White Heart
by Korhil Tohru
Summary: Hinata Centric. Hinata's POV. After Hinata founds an strange necklace in her house she musters the courage to talk to Naruto when they are young. How will this affect the future?
1. Habataku

Hello! I had this idea on my mind for quite some time and just had to let it out, I hope you like it

To the readers of my other two stories i'm not dropping them neither red sky nor angel wings are going into hiatus, I did this because the idea was melting my mind, I'll try to run the three stories at the same time, bear with me

When you finish reading please, take a minute to tell me what do you guys think of this idea. Thanks

Chapter 1.- Habataku

_-Make your choice! - He had said __-Do as I told you, or they will die!_

_I was petrified, full of fears and doubts. What was I supposed to do in this situation?_

_-I said open the portal, at once! Or don't you care for what could happen to them?_

_I was in a large cavern; the rocks were filled with crystal formations that reflected the light of a small pond, illuminating the place with a clear bluish light. In front of me, was a small boy with long black hair who wore blue clothes. He was floating in the air. Behind him were four large crystals, also floating._

_-This wasn't supposed to be like this!- on the ground there was a girl, just a few feet away from me. Her hair was white, but her face was young –We worked hard to make it work this time! It wasn't supposed to turn out like this! Not again!_

_I looked at the crystals and noticed that people were trapped inside of them, they appeared to be dead, __as if the crystals were shinning, transparent, tombs of purplish crystal._

_On the outmost right was a __tall and slim person, but I was not able to distinguish if it was a man or a woman, that person had long black hair, with a beautiful face. In the next was a young girl, her skin was white, her hair, short and also black. I recognized her with just a look, even if her looks had changed, she was my little sister. The following from right to left contained an older girl, maybe in her twenties, she was using a outfit my father would not describe as appealing: A black leather mini skirt, black boots, a purple shirt and a black leather jacket, her hair was dyed red and blue. However, my sight was attracted by the young man inside the last crystal sarcophagus. He was blond, tall, and strong, his face was fair, and his hair shone like the sun, whisker like marks adorned his cheeks_

_-Make your choice Hyuuga Hinata! Open the portal and give me my unlimited power or see them die! Which should be the first one? The youngest maybe? -he asked as he floated towards Hanabi –Or the blond warrior?-he floated towards Naruto-kun and snapped his fingers. I saw in terror how Naruto-kun's crystal became full of cracks, but still kept its shape. Naruto-kun was unharmed –OPEN THE PORTAL AT ONCE!_

_I walked slowly towards the pond in the middle of the cavern, and looked into my reflection. I did not recognize the woman that looked back at me from the water. She was gorgeous, her long dark blue hair fell from her head like a perfect waterfall, her skin was flawless and smooth, and her bright white eyes shone second to none_

_-Please!-I heard myself said inside my head –Someone answer my plea! Somebody! Anybody! Please! Give me power! I don't care if it's from Heaven or Hell! I just want power, power enough to defeat him! Because…because…because between the world and Naruto-kun I prefer Naruto-Kun!!!_

_Suddenly, everything went black…_

I woke up in the middle of the night, bathed in sweat, suffocated by my sheets. I left my bed and walked to the window, and watched Konoha from there; I have always loved the vision of the village at night

-I'm sure it's not healthy for a seven year old to have this dreams, I don't like bad dreams- I said to myself, trying to get calmer –That was the most strange dream I have ever had, I wish I would never have it again!

The door to my room opened and my father entered the room

-Hinata? It's not time to be awake- he said with his usual cold voice

-It's no-nothing father I just h-had a ba-bad dream- I answered stuttering

-I see, go back to bed and rest Hinata, you have academy tomorrow

-Y-yes, father

-Good night- he said leaving the room

-Good ni-night- I answered without moving an inch and awaited for my father to leave the room before I entered my bed and tried to sleep again. Luckily I didn't dreamt anymore that night

I woke up early the next morning, when the sun was just rising on the horizon. I suppose part of belonging to a strict family is waking up early. Especially since you are forced to train in the mornings when you are little, later on you are just expected to train on your own to become stronger in the name of the clan. However I was very tired, I had little rest in my sleep.

I left my room half awake and walked to the bathroom, finding Hanabi, my little sister, on the hall. I said hello trying to sound friendly, as my relationship with her is not as good as I would like it to be

-Good mo-mo-morning, Hanabi-chan- I said trying to smile warmly, but she just spare me a glance and continued on her way, apparently towards the dojo; surely she was meeting with father for morning training. I entered the bathroom, approached the washstand and splashed some water on my face to help me wake up completely. I looked towards the mirror and said hello to the ugly reflection that looked back at me sadly.

I practiced some smiling using the mirror, looking for an expression that would make me look pretty, but as every morning, the results were not very satisfying. Resigned I left the bathroom and walked back into my room, took off my pajamas and checked out my wardrobe. Many girls would be delighted to have as many clothes as I had; I had skirts, blouses, shorts, pants, dresses, and a lot of shoes, most of them were the last things my mother gave to me, before passing away. Since her decease I haven't received any other clothes different from training clothes. Yet I didn't really mind that, 'cause even if I grow up and those fancy dresses won't fit me anymore, I have one jacket I'll be able to use. That jacket, the first thing in my wardrobe, and my favorite thing in the world. But not because it's pretty, or fancy, no, it's my favorite because it was my mother's. I'm looking forward to be old enough to wear it. A quick glance to the clock forced my attention back to getting ready to go to the academy. I took out a t shirt and a pair of pants and got changed.

I combed my hair, and took a last glance at the mirror, what I saw didn't live to my expectations, but as always it was the best I could do. I walked down the stairs and met my father and sister for breakfast. They didn't say a word when I entered the room, but I was used to it.

-G-good morning- I said taking a sit at the table

-Good morning Hinata- said my father without stopping his breakfast, Hanabi just nodded to say she had noticed my presence

The rest of the breakfast passed in silence, slowly, and painfully. I wish we could talk a little bit more, like a real family, but it would be wishing too much for a person like me. I had just finished my breakfast when Yuuhi Kurenai, a Chunnin of the village, came to pick me up and escort me to the academy. I stood up from the table, and made a small reverence to my father, which he replied, and went swiftly to meet Kurenai-san.

I found her waiting for me on the main gate of the haven; I greeted her and we walked towards the academy, chatting a little. She always asked me about how I was, what I had for breakfast, and how was I doing in the academy. I usually answered happily the first two questions, but I tried to avoid the third one as many times as I was able to. Yet, I enjoy being with Kurenai-san, she's like the older sister I never had and I can trust her with almost everything; the only thing I haven't told Kurenai-san is how much I admire a boy of my class, and maybe I'll spare her tonight's dream too.

We reached the academy in just a few minutes, and Kurenai-san left me at the entrance before retiring to complete her Chunnin assignments. I walked directly to my classroom because I don't really have any friends at the academy; in fact I have crossed words with very few people and only in extraordinary occasions. Because of this I usually spend the recess alone, and never talk to anyone during class.

My class main teacher is Umino Iruka, he's a tall man, young, capable, strict, but warm and caring, I would detest academy if it wasn't for him. Besides my teacher there are few people who I know. First is Uchiha Sasuke, the top of the class, best in everything we do, youngest son of a clan of geniuses and prodigies, I have heard his older brother is an ANBU being only thirteen years old; Sasuke is usually smiling but when he's working at something his eyes are very determinated. Another classmate I know is the top girl of the class Yamanaka Ino, she's the perfect kunoichi: beautiful, skilled, bright, strong; in one word she's perfect. There's also Haruno Sakura, Ino's best friend, Sakura is pretty and smart and because she plays with Ino the other girls don't mess with her. I wish I could be at least half as good of any of them, at least a little bit more like Sakura, so I could call his attention. Uzumaki Naruto, the last of our class since we entered the academy, but no matter how complicated is the task he always faces it with a smile and determination, nothing brings him down and he's always back to his feet to try again and again until he can accomplish it. I have seen him stay in the training grounds of the academy practicing his shuriken and taijutsu until it's really late. I have always watched Naruto-kun from afar, but recently he seems to be interested in Sakura.

I crossed the field and went to my classroom, Ino and Sakura were already there, Naruto-kun with his bright blond spiky hair was also adorning the classroom. However, strangely Sasuke had not arrived, neither did he arrived when Iruka sensei entered the classroom and ordered us to take our seats. I wondered if he was ok.

The class passed as every other day, Naruto-kun and his friends were everywhere but attending to Iruka sensei, I wish I could have fun with him at least one day; Sakura and Ino were chatting, but I didn't hear about what, and Iruka sensei had to constantly interrupt the lesson in order to calm down Naruto-kun; however, when Naruto-kun gets scolded he doesn't look sad at all, it could be my imagination though.

At the middle of the day Iruka sensei called recess to have lunch. Everyone went out happily to eat lunch on the grounds. Everyone except Naruto-kun and I; we usually spend lunch alone, he on the swing, and I watching him from afar.

I once tried to talk to him, but I just stood there, in front of him, stuttering so much that I couldn't even get one sentence to leave my mouth. After failing I ran away crying. Since then, I yield to just looking at him from afar.

After the recess had ended the class was divided in boys and girls and each went to lessons for either male shinobi or kunoichi. I didn't see Naruto-kun until the end of the day, when Kurenai-san came to pick me up, and he was alone on that swing in front of the academy. As everyday I made the silent promise to gather enough courage to talk to him the next day.

We arrived at the Hyuuga Haven when the sun had almost disappeared, I said good bye to Kurenai-san and entered the house, going directly to the dojo for my evening training with my father. I knocked the door of the dojo

-Enter- I heard my father say, and so I did –Welcome Hinata, get ready. We will begin at once

-Y-yes f-father- I made a small reverence to him and walked to a side part of the dojo to change my clothes.

The training outfit has been the same for generations in my family: a pair of dark blue pants and an equally dark blue shirt with fishnet on it. After changing I went to the middle of the dojo and affronted my father

-Today's training will be defense- he said explaining –I'll attack you and you'll defend using Jyuuken, did I made myself clear? – I nodded –fine, let's do it then.

Both father and I assumed guard position for the family taijutsu style, the Jyuuken, and he attacked me after that. It was clear that we was holding back, but even so I had a hard time trying to block all the attacks, I missed one blow every two, and was knocked to the floor with ease. After two hours, my father dismissed me. He did not look pleased with my performance

-We have finished- he said after I stood up from his last blow –You need to practice harder on your own Hinata. Go take a bath and join us at dinner after that –with out giving me another look he left the dojo

I left the dojo depressed, and heavily climbed up the stairs to the bathroom. I took a long hot bath and tried to relax myself, continuously saying

-I'll do better next time, there's no need to worry

But in truth I know that I'm pathetic, a hopeless failure as a ninja, but I would never let my father hear that, he would throw me out of the clan in a heartbeat.

After my bath I went to my room and changed into my pajamas before joining my father and sister for dinner. Yet more than having dinner together, it was more like we were having dinner next to each of the others. However, the strangest thing happened to me during dinner.

-Come, please, come here- A voice said, it was the voice of a young woman and it carried sadness and sorrow

-D-d-d-d-did you h-h-hear that? – I asked almost turning a rice bowl over

-Hear what, Hinata?- asked my father rising an eyebrow

-The v-voice, of a woman, j-just now- I tried to explain trying not to sound crazy

-Sister is losing it; maybe today's beating was too much for her?- I listened Hanabi said in a whisper

-Maybe you should go to bed, Hinata- said my father –I'm sure you will feel better in the morning

-Someone please, come- the voice kept saying, apparently my family could not hear it, or did not want to say they could also hear it. Sad for not being believed I excused myself and went to my bedroom

After that episode the voice went silent for some hours, but I heard it again in the night, at a very late hour, but this time it was louder

-Come, please! Someone come- the voice had woken me up from my sleep. And it was seriously causing me curiosity to discover what that voice was. Therefore, I took my slippers, a small lantern I kept by my bed in case of an emergency and walked outside in the night. I walked on the hall, and returned to the first story of the house. The voice was nowhere to be found, but pulled me to the dojo.

I went to the garden and surrounded the house, looking for the woman that was talking, if I had been able to hear it in my room the person that was calling had be outside. I reached the garden outside the dojo, still feeling like the place was pulling me lightly to it. And there I heard it again

-Come, come here, please- it was the same voice, still full of sorrow, she was suffering a great pain –Anyone, please, help me- the voice was coming from inside the dojo. I slide the door open and dare to ask to the dark

-Is so-somebo-body there?-even if I had not stuttered as I always did, my voice trembled

-Please, can some body hear me?- the voice echoed through the dojo

-L-lady, I'm afraid y-you can't be-be here, now, pl-please come outside or I'll c-call someone- I said trying to sound stable, yet I had no answer. I walked inside the dojo, and looked around, expecting to find a woman, but there was no one in there, not a single soul beside my own, at least I though that. I was walking around the edges of the dojo when the floor sounded empty on the other side, and a part of the floor moved a little. Then it occurred to me, that maybe she was trapped below the floor. I hurried to lift the floor

-Don't worry! I'll t-take you out!-I said as I rushed to lift as many parts of the dojo wooden floor. Finally I was able to pass through the floor to some kind of basement room. It was small and warm and somehow I felt a presence that calmed me, as if it embraced my body. It felt really good.

The room was long and barely five feet tall. At the end of it was a small altar, with lighted candles that made the shadows around dance creepily. In the middle of it was a large seal, covering even part of the walls and ceiling, above the seal, atop a small table carved from the rock below the house, was an ancient looking necklace. It was made of some orange metal, and had in the center an horizontal cylinder with a cone on eachside

-Is someone there?-the voice called

-I'm here, w-where are you? -I asked seeing no body else on the small room

-Over here- the woman said. The voice apparently was coming from the altar, therefore I walked closer

-A-are you h-here?- I asked seriously hoping for all this to be one of Naruto-kun's pranks or maybe a joke of my sister and or cousin Neji, but it wasn't they style and Naruto-kun didn't even know where my house is, so I negated that idea quickly

-Finally! Someone was able to hear me! - Said the voice –who are you child?

-My n-name is Hinata, H-hyuuga Hinata- I said with a respectful tone

-I…see, my name is…is…you can call me Habataku, it is a pleasure to meet you, _Hina-chan_ -I sensed something wasn't right when the voice called me Hina-chan, because only my mother called me like that –I'm…trapped, or more likely confined to this necklace -she said

-Y-y-y-y-y-you tr-tr-tr-ying to say that the necklace is what's talking?

-No! I said I'm talking and I am inside the necklace, you could say my soul is bound to the necklace

-Then, y-y-you are d-dead?

-I suppose that's correct, even if I don't like to accept it- she said sadly –would you please take me outside, I have been in the dark for far too long. I know you are a good girl; would you do this for me?

Her voice sounded so familiar to me, and her tone kept me warm, for me there was little to no doubt, the woman inside the necklace was my mother, especially because a sixth sense told me I could trust her.

-What do I have to do? –I asked accepting her plea

-Thank you Hina-chan. It's very simple, really, you are a member of the main family of the Hyuuga's, am I right?

-Y-yes

-Then all you have to do is unlit the candles and take the necklace, or rather, take me with your bare hands. It was your father Hyuuga Hiashi who had sealed me here, so only a person who carries his blood could take me without being harmed by the protective jutsus he placed-I'm sure the necklace noticed my doubts when she said my father had sealed her, because she said –I promise you I won't harm you, nor your beloved ones, Hina-chan, I give you my word

And then again I sensed that I could trust her. I accepted, blew the candles and touched the necklace. The large seal shone lightly in the now dark room and the necklace was easily lifted from the table

-Ahhh, freedom at last! Thank you Hina-chan, now I'm able to see again. And I notice this room is totally dark, why don't you take us outside?

-S-sure, but don't expect a lot of light outside though, it's night time- I said climbing outside of the small subterrean room and placing the floor pieces back in place

-I didn't happen to wake you up, did I? -She asked ashamed

-W-well, yeah, but its ok, Habataku

-Well, I thank you for rescuing me from my lone and dark prison, but you have to go back to sleep, you have to go to ninja academy tomorrow, right?

-Y-yes, you know a lot about me don't you? –I asked with curiosity

-W-well, it's because…um…you said you are a Hyuuga, and the Hyuuga are one of the strongest clan of the hidden ninja village of Konoha, and now that you released the seal my senses are back and I can see that you are very young, taking that information as a base I can guess you are assisting to the academy

-I s-suppose that sounds l-logical- I accepted- Then I'll t-t-take you to my room and go to b-bed

-Yes, a child your age shouldn't be up this late at night

-Will y-you tell me about y-y-yourself?

-Sure, I'll gladly do so, but in the morning

-Ok

I went to my bed, left Habataku and my hand lantern near the bed and went to sleep. That night I repeated the dream about the crystal cave. However I was kinda expecting it, so I wasn't as affected.

The next morning I woke up, happy to leave that terrible dream. I went to the bathroom as every morning, and splashed my face with water, waking up completely. Returned to my bedroom and got changed. Habataku helped me out to choose my outfit, curiously, she chose my favorite clothes besides my mother's jacket; a flower pattern light pink and white t shirt and a pair of purple pants. I took Habataku and wore her around my neck before going downstairs for breakfast.

Kurenai-san picked me up and we walked towards the academy. In the way there she bought me my favorite food, cinnamon rolls

-Those are for lunch; don't eat them 'til the recess ok? –she said smiling warmly

Class wasn't the same that day. I spent most of the class talking with Habataku, she told me that she was also a ninja, and told me of her adventures and missions. She is so amazing, smart, fast, strong, and full of resources. I was so enthusiast listening that Iruka sensei even called my attention

-Hyuuga Hinata- He had said- I can see you are talking a lot, I'm sure you have understood the lesson. Would you please repeat it for your classmates?

I had been talking with Habataku, and hadn't been paying attention to the lesson. Everyone was laughing at me for being scolded; everyone but Naruto-kun, he was just looking at me, OH MY GOD HE WAS LOOKING AT ME! As the nervousness rose I could feel the blood on my cheeks, I didn't want to fail in front him

-Well…um…I-iruka sensei…I- I said trying to understand something, sending roguish glances at the blackboard, but surely Iruka sensei had been reading, because the blackboard was blank

-We are waiting Miss Hyuuga

I was done for, there was no more to do but apologize and accept it, but Habataku came to my rescue

-The relationship between chakra and ninja techniques and how the seals are used to manipulate the raw chakra of the body and canalize it to the techniques- she whispered to me

-The l-lesson explains how N-n-ninjutsu are performed and the r-r-re-relationship with their fuel, Chakra; and how the s-seals used to p-perform the techniques al-allow the shinobi to manipulate the r-raw chakra within their b-body and ef-effectively canalize it to make the jutsu work- I said hoping of it to be accurate

-Uh…well, try to pay attention next time even if you have understood the lesson Hinata, some of your classmates have a harder time with some of these themes, ok?- said Iruka sensei. I couldn't believe it! I had been saved of the humiliation

-Y-yes sensei- I sit down and whispered to Habataku –thanks, you saved me

-No problem- she said

Then I noticed Naruto-kun, he was still looking at me, he smiled and then turned back his attention to Iruka sensei. I couldn't help but to smile for the rest of the lesson.

Recess came fast, and just as the day before I was looking at Naruto-kun sitting in that swing. Eating slowly the rolls Kurenai-san had bought me

-You like that boy- said Habataku, it was a statement, not really a question

-Wh-what makes you t-think that? –I asked back feeling how the color rose to my cheeks again

-I'm not blind you were always watching that kid during class and have spent ten minutes doing nothing more than watching him

-I just ad-admire him, because he's str-strong and perseverant

-You know something? I'm sure that boy seriously needs some friends, he looks so lonely there

-But I can't talk to him, besides what could I tell him? –I asked kinda desperate, I did not like talking about myself and Naruto-kun in the same line

-You could offer him some of your lunch –proposed Habataku –it seems to me that he isn't having lunch

She was right, that could be a good way to talk to Naruto-kun

-Go for it Hinata, believe me, you will make that boy very happy

I wasn't sure how a person like me could make Naruto-kun happy, but I wanted to give it a try. I took my box lunch with the cinnamon rolls and approached Naruto-kun

-Na-na-na-na-naruto-k-k-kun?- I called his attention, he turned to look at me, clearly surprised, but he waited for me to talk again- W-w-w-w-w-would you l-l-l-l-like to h-have lu-lunch with m-m-m-m…me?- I asked offering the lunch box

Naruto-kun looked at me as if I were a ghost or something

-Ne, are you serious dattebayo, Hinata? -He asked me, still surprised. I nodded feeling my blush deepen –YEAH! I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE LUNCH WITH YOU HINATA!

oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo

That's the 1st chapter of White Heart

All that's left is for you to click the small violet button and give me a review, I accept flames and annon reviews, so you don't have to be logged to leave a review, please tell me what do you think about this : )


	2. My Father's Decision

There, the next chapter! After this one I'll continue the rotation updating my other stories, so be patient

This chapter was made readeable by Hikari no Okami, be grateful with her

oooOOOooo

**My Father's Decision**

-You know, K-kurenai-san?- I asked the next morning on our way to the academy

-What is it Hinata-san?- asked back the red eyed woman

-Yesterday I h-had lunch with a b-b-b-boy of my class

-Really? –she asked half surprised yet completely interested. I nodded

-N-n-naruto-k-kun and I s-shared the rolls you bought for me

-Naruto? I see- for a moment Kurenai-san was very serious -is he a good boy? -I answered again by nodding

-Y-yes, Naruto-kun was r-really n-n-nice to me. He's a-always alone, and no one ever plays w-with him, but I don't understand why. He's nice, friendly, respectful, caring, hard working and perseverant

-You seem to know that boy very well

-I a-admire N-naruto-kun, he's strong a-and a good ni-ninja, I would like to be like h-h-h-him

-Well then, I suppose we'll have to buy more cinnamons rolls this time, don't you think? –she asked me with a small smile, without thinking about it I also smiled back, full of happiness and nodded enthusiastically

We took a small detour to buy the rolls and headed again to the academy. We reached the grounds of the academy rather quickly, my heart beat rushed at the idea of seeing Naruto-kun again, and hopefully, after sharing lunch with him yesterday we could get along better, maybe even get to become close friends. I saw with excitement the entrance as all the other students were entering with their bright smiles. I would usually be envious of their happiness, but not this day, because, right at the entrance, a bright blond haired boy was watching the students, clearly looking for somebody. He saw me coming, his eyes shone and grew wide, and his large smile appeared. For a second all my shyness was gone just to return doubled: Naruto-kun was running to meet me!

-Hey, Hinata! Good Morning! -he said stopping in front of me, yet I acted by mere reaction and took one step behind Kurenai-san

-G-g-g-g-good mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-mor-ning, N-n-naruto-kun

-Now Hinata, don't be shy -said Kurenai-san

-Ne, who are you? –asked Naruto-kun to Kurenai-san

-I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, I'm a chunnin assigned to escort Hinata-san to the academy and back to her house –she explained smiling and crouching to see Naruto-kun to the eye

-Nani? Her escort? Is Hinata a famous person or something? –asked Naruto-kun surprised. I loved his faced when he was surprised

-Well, you could say so, she's from a big clan and his father wants her to be safe. You must be Uzumaki Naruto, Hinata told me a lot about you –at these words Naruto-kun's cheeks got a pink tone –Can I trust you with protecting her while she's in the academy? It could be a dangerous ninja assignment

-Really?! A mission? You mean like a full fledge ninja?! –asked Naruto excited

-Yes, exactly like a mission, imagine you are a strong Gennin and Hinata is a princess from a foreign country, your will mission will be to protect her until your team captain comes back, that would be me ok? –proposed Kurenai-san

-I don't like that game –said Naruto-kun crossing her arms, doesn't he want to protect me? I asked myself feeling the tears in my eyes

-Uh, why? –asked Kurenai-san

-Because I don't want to be a Gennin, I want to be the Hokage! Because a beautiful princess like Hinata-chan deserves to be protected only by the most powerful Hokage of all times!

-Hinata-chan? –asked Kurenai-san surprised to Naruto-kun

-Is something wrong? –he asked back

-No, just that, well, you called Hinata-san, Hinata-chan –Naruto-kun's cheeks again took a pink shade

-That's only natural because Hinata-chan and I are good friends, right? –he asked me. I gripped tighter to Kurenai-san but nodded

-I must be going –said Kurenai-san –Godaime Hokage Uzumaki Naruto, here is your assignment –she said pushing me gently in front of him –be a true gentleman to her

-Don't worry; I'll protect her with my life! –said Naruto-kun full of determination

That day was as happy as when my mom was still alive, Naruto-kun seated with me, and we talk and studied together all that day. I was so delighted to have Naruto-kun with me, even if I was silent most of the time and stuttering more than ever whenever I dared to talk to him. The day passed quickly and before I had noticed, Mizuki-sensei, other of our teachers, had called to recess.

-Would you allow me to escort you outside, Hinata Hime-chan? –asked me Naruto-kun bowing slightly with his big smile. I was totally speechless! I could feel how the blood rushed to my cheeks. I knew my voice would not come out, so I bowed slowly, I sensed a small smile curving my lips.

We went outside, to join the rest of our classmates and the boys and girls from other classes, yet I paid little attention to them, because the smile of the boy in front of me monopolized my mind. We walked to the big tree on the edge of the grounds, the one with the swing, and we took a seat under its shade

-Yesterday you gave me part of your lunch –said Naruto-kun taking off his backpack, until then I hadn't noticed the size it had –this time I'll give you some of mine

Naruto-kun opened the large backpack and I could see that it was full of cups of instant ramen

-I wasn't sure what flavor you liked, so I brought one of each –he said with a hand behind his head

-W-w-w-w-well, Kurenai-s-san also bought cinnamon rolls for me today…and a-a-also for y-y-y-y-y-you, N-n-naruto-kun

-Really? GREAT! Now, what flavors of ramen do you like Hinata?

-I'm not r-really sure; I have only had m-miso and chicken in my h-house

-Would you like to try any other? Or would you like any of those?

-I think m-m-miso is fine

-Ok –Naruto-kun took out a term that had hot water and two pairs of chopsticks, he gave me a cup of miso with hot water on it and a pair of sticks, he helped himself to a cup of pork ramen, we shared the rolls and eat the ramen, I was enjoying this day like no other before.

-Ne, Hinata, you wanna play something? –asked me Naruto-kun when we had finished lunch

-L-l-like what, Naruto-kun?

-Uh, we could play with a ball!

-B-b-but we don't have a ball

-Hide and seek?

-We a-a-are only the two of u-us –Naruto-kun was thinking hardly, I supposed he was thinking about some game for us to play

-Jankenpon? –I asked shyly, yet Naruto-kun smiled brightly

-That sounds good, after all luck is also part of the skills a shinobi needs!

We started to play rock, paper, and scissors, the first time I put scissors and Naruto-kun paper, yet Naruto-kun did not get angry, he cheered me!

-Wow! You won Hinata! Well done! –He said, I was a little embarrassed, but happy at the same time, no one had ever cheered me –another one!

We played again, and again, and again, somehow I kept on winning, and Naruto-kun's eyes started to show his classical determination look

-I won't give up Hinata-chan –he said ready for another game –until I win you at least one!

Yet even as we played the rest of the recess I won all the games. The recess finished and we were going to be separated, Naruto-kun would be going to the classes of the boys, and I to the class with the rest of the girls

-I didn't know you had a secret talent for Jankenpon –admitted in a whisper Habataku surprised

-Neither did I –was my answer

-Hey Hinata! –Called me Naruto-kun –you were great, but I'll have my payback next time! –he was smiling happily; I replied shyly the smile and nodded.

We continued like that for a week, the most wonderful week in my life so far. Naruto-kun and I attended to classes and spent the recess together, whenever our teachers asked us to work in pairs or teams Naruto-kun and I always worked with each other

The other day he introduced me to his friends Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru, yet, what he said will remain forever in my memory. I can remember his exact words as clearly as when he said them

-Hey guys –he said approaching his other friends during recess –I would like to introduce you my best friend, Hinata-chan

He had said I was his best friend! I felt how my face grew hotter and hotter because of the blood that rushed to my cheeks and in the end I had fainted, but, that was also a good thing because when I opened my eyes Naruto-kun's face was the first thing I saw, and I was in his arms.

Since that day Naruto-kun and I joined them during the recesses and sometimes during classes, except when they skipped classes. That had been another interesting day. Naruto-kun, Kiba and Shikamaru were bored and planned to skip the class, Chouji joined the plan when Shikamaru approved it. Naruto-kun had come to me and offered me to join them

-C'mon Hinata, we'll have fun outside!

But I was scared! I didn't want Iruka-sensei to catch us, especially because he would tell my dad. Therefore I refused after a few minutes of indecision. I felt terrible for letting Naruto-kun down

-N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no! I am s-scared, my father would k-k-k-k-kill me if Iruka-sensei catches us trying to s-skip the class –I whispered in terror covering my face with my hands. I was shaking. I dared to spy a look to Naruto-kun through my fingers. He was thinking on something. I was sure I had disappointed him. Yet Naruto-kun's warm hands enveloped mines as he said

-If you are not coming I won't go either –He said those words with determination and a smile confident smile. And in the end he stayed with me in the class

However, life couldn't be that good for a person like me.

It happened just a week after I had found Habataku's necklace. My father had noticed that I packed double rations for my lunch, and I suppose that my attitude had also changed because he asked me about it

-Hinata? –he had said entering my room that evening

-Y-yes f-father?

-You have been…different these days

-R-really?

-You take more lunch to your school, and although I have seen you smile a little, you have been also neglecting your training as of lately, you return later from the academy. Has anything happened?

-W-w-well, father, I have been with a-a f-f-friend

-A friend?

-Y-yes, a b-boy, from my class

-I see, does this…boy…have a name?

-U-uzumaki, Uzumaki N-n-naruto-k-kun -I wish I hadn't said that

-WHAT? –My father was angry, and he is scary when he is angry –I DON'T WAN'T YOU NEAR THAT BOY!

-B-b-but f-fath…

-NO BUTS! YOU WON'T EVER SEE THAT BOY AGAIN NOR TALK TO HIM

-B-but fathe…

-IT IS AN ORDER. –His tone denoted that there was no room to argumentation, I stayed in silence lowering my head, it wasn't fair –Did I make myself clear? –asked my father. I nodded. He left the room without saying another word.

I fell to my knees, troubled by a terrible pain in my heart. I started to cry.

-Its not fair! I really enjoy being with Naruto-kun! I like him; he is my best and only friend! I don't want to be separated from him! -I was reclaiming in my mind, I didn't slept that night

The next day was torturous, my father kept leering at me angrily during the breakfast, my eyes ached from crying all night, and I was depressed and had no appetite. I can't but imagine my looks because Kurenai-san asked me if everything was ok

-H-hinata-san?! Are you ok? –her voice denoted her worry. I couldn't mutter an answer; I wiped again –Calm down, what happened? –she took a knee and put her hands on my shoulders

-F-f-f-f _**sniff**_ Father said, t-that _**sniff**_ I couldn't s-s-see Narato-kun _**sniff**_ e-ever again!

-Ow, Hinata-san! I'm very sorry! –she said hugging me

-He's my o-only friend! –I kept crying on

-I know, I know

-F-f-father is so u-unfair with me!

-We'll think on something, don't worry –she said, however we reached the academy and we hadn't reach any solution, and if my father would discover that I disobeyed him he would reprimand me. My heart broke into pieces when I saw Naruto-kun's bright wide smile running to meet me. I worried when Naruto-kun asked me too if I was ok

-Hinata? What happened? Are you ok? You don't look good

-I c-c-can't be your friend a-a-anym-m-more Naruto-kun, My f-f-father prohibited me to t-t-talk to you e-e-ever again, I'm s-s.sorry –My heart's broken pieces were pulverized

-…No, No! PLEASE HINATA NOT YOU! YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE I HAVE! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO BEING ALONE! PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T TRUE!

-I-I-I-I'm so-so-sorry –I couldn't take it anymore I ran again. I think I heard Kurenai-san and Naruto-kun call my name but I ignored it, I ran as fast as my weak legs allowed me to

I had no interest in anything else that day, even though I entered my classes I paid no attention to any of them, I passed the recess crying alone, and didn't met with my father for training in the evening, I didn't care what punishment he would cast on me.

I had changed into my pajamas and was preparing to go to bed when someone called at the main door. I was curious and silently checked. It was Iruka-sensei, he asked for my father. I was listening from the stairway.

-Hyuuga Hiashi-san, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Umino Iruka, I'm Hinata's teacher -introduced himself Iruka-sensei

-It is a pleasure to meet you -replied my dad -what brings you to our house?

-A matter concerning two of my best students -explained my sensei

-Has it something to do with Hinata? -questioned my father

-Yes, she has part in this -recognized Iruka-sensei

-Very well, Hinata! Stand up from the stair and come here! -My father's ordering tone demanded obedience. Slowly and with fear I entered the living room where my father and Iruka-sensei were

-Good night Hinata -greeted my teacher with his warm smile

-Now, what's the matter that brings you here Umino-san? -asked my father

-You see, Hyuuga-san. Today, after class one of my students came crying asking for my help. He told me you strictly forbid Hinata to see or talk to him, that you do not accept by any means their friendship.

I felt nervous, I didn't know what my father's reaction would be, but he seemed more interested in sensei's words, since he just observed him with serious eyes

-I came - Iruka sensei continued -to know the reasons behind your decision -Father saw him with such intensity that I felt terrified for a moment

-You know the reason. I will not accept by any means such a relationship. That kid endangers my daughter, the Hyuuga clan heiress

-Endangers? –Iruka-sensei's looked surprised

-You know perfectly why –assured my father with an acid tone

-Hyuuga-san, of all people I would have expected you to know the difference between Nar-

-I know he isn't **It**, if that's what you are implying –the acid tone deepened

-Then, wha-

-Tell me, Umino-san –said my father calmed –what would happen if my daughter is near the Uzumaki boy and the worst happens? –Iruka-sensei stayed in silence –What would happen if the boy losses the control and **It** damages her physically? But most importantly –said father coldly –what could be the emotional damage to her? I don't want to try her temperance making her endure that. There is no use for her to continue associating with him -By this moment I was practically paralyzed. How could Naruto-kun be dangerous?

-I am sorry Hyuuga-san but I highly differ with your opinion

-Oh, is that so? -Father raised an eyebrow as if challenging sensei to give a good enough reason.

-In just this short period of time both, your daughter and Uzumaki Naruto have presented a marvelous improvement. He doesn't skip classes, learns every lesson and gets better grades every day. Hinata seems more confident during practice and both get along better with the rest of the students. I'm sure you have noticed even a slight change in Hinata.–Father's eye twitched lightly –As you know, the will of the person is very important in this kind of things. By allowing Hinata to befriend Naruto his willpower and his very person would be enforced, therefore preventing a catastrophe even further from being unleashed. The Hyuuga clan has at this moment the chance to be the ones to protect and even save Konoha from the worst of fates. Your daughter, Hinata here, can be the difference that could mark Konoha from other villages, like Sand, Rain, and **Cloud**.

Father closed his eyes for a moment, like if he was thinking on something fiercely. The fluctuation of Iruka-sensei when he enumerated the other hidden villages apparently had significance for my father. I was not moving but my thoughts went wild. How a person like me could have such importance for the village? There had to be a mistake. But as long as it could give me a chance to see Naruto-kun again I wasn't going to correct Iruka-sensei telling him I wasn't that worthwhile

I'll think about the matter –said father after a few seconds –you can leave now, Umino-san –said my father finishing the conversation. Iruka-sensei stood up and made a small bow

-I can find the exit by myself, thank you very much for receiving me without prior notice.

Without saying another word, sensei left. I stayed in uncomfortable silence with my father in the room.

-Go to bed Hinata, it's already late for you to be awake. –as usual, he didn't even spare me a glance

-Good night father

I left the room with a small reverence to my father and climbed the stairs.

-Umino Iruka –said Habataku –certainly is a great man

-Y-yes! –some how I couldn't help to smile and nod vigorously

That night was restless as well. I had the same dream of the crystal cave, but it was different. Naruto-kun wasn't trapped inside the last crystal, it was empty. And in the middle of the dream the small kid of long hair that threatened me transformed into Naruto-kun! However, his factions where more fierce, almost beast like, his eyes had changed to red and his pupil were like those of a cat or some kind of animal. His hands were clawed, and the marks of his cheeks, usually cute, were wider and far darker, also his teeth had become fangs, his appearance was very intimidating

-I'll eat you! -He had said and charged at me.

I woke up crying and could never regain my sleep. I'm sure I'm going insane.

In the morning, in my way outside I found my father, coming out of his room

-Off to school Hinata? –I nodded –Have a nice day, give my greetings to Uzumaki Naruto

My eyes grew wide as I shot my head up to see my father. He simply nodded with an almost non existent smile. A wide smiled appeared on my face and didn't left for the rest of the day.

OOOoooOOO

There it is! Please click the little violet button right there and write a review!!! XD

Beta's Note: Hey, I want u readers to tell me if you find any mistakes...since this chappie was checked right after a nap... and well I wan't really awake nnU

Thanx people!


	3. TopClass Training

Hey I'm back.

I don't want you to kill me for the LATE update so...on with it

Thank Hikari no Okami for betaing this chapter

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The Top-Class Training

The next morning Naruto-kun and I met again at the academy entrance. It had been a week since we were together and now that we had my father's permission we could be friends without worries. As always, Naruto-kun was happy. He had smiled since yesterday when I told him that I still could be his friend; his eyes had filled with tears and he had embraced me on the verge of crying, but he only said "I'm so happy". I didn't say a thing but embraced him back. I like to see him smiling.

"Ne! Hinata-chan!" he called me when I reached the gates with Kurenai

"Good m-morning" I said with a shy smile, we both couldn't hide that we were happy to see each other.

"Good morning Naruto" said Kurenai politely, yet also smiling

"Wassup?" replied back Naruto-kun smiling at her, I knew he liked Kurenai, I know it because I like her too

"Ready for another day at the academy? I hope you are giving it your best" she said before putting a hand on my back and gently pushing me forward "May I ask you to take care of her again?"

"Sure! I like taking care of Hinata-chan dattebayo!" he said passing his arm over my shoulders and grinning toothily.

"Well then, I'll see you both after the academy" said Kurenai-san smiling at us. Before I could give her an answer Naruto-kun pulled me running, holding my hand. I blushed while running hand in hand with him, I turned to say goodbye to Kurenai. She was still smiling and waving us goodbye, however before I could say anything she disappeared into a shadow.

We reached the classroom early, several minutes before the class started. The place was almost empty; however, I didn't notice that there was someone else beside us, that is, until Naruto-kun called my attention to it.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, over there, look" he said in a whisper. I followed his eyes towards the other end of the room

"Sasuke" It was Sasuke indeed, but he was different. I couldn't understand how he looked the same as before and at the same time so strangely changed. There was something odd with him, he didn't seemed to be the same Sasuke

"We haven't seen him in a whole week, what happened to him? The top of the class had never been late nor absent before" said Naruto-kun a little annoyed. However I felt a great difference in Sasuke, something around him told me he was so alone, suffering direly. I identified the feeling instantly: it felt amazingly similar to the "me", before Naruto-kun.

I know he and Naruto-kun don't share a good relationship, so even if Naruto-kun was worried at some point about him he would never accept it nor ask him about it; it was probably something of boys. I bit my lower lip and walked towards Sasuke, he turned to see me as I walked close to him. A pair of cold hardened eyes saw through me. His freezing glance almost turned me to ice, and his empty eyes showed nothing but concealed sorrow.

"H-hi" I said stuttering

"What do you need, Hinata?" he asked half annoyed half bored, as if I wasn't worth his time, even if he was doing nothing else but waiting in the classroom.

"W-w-w-w-w-well I-I-I j-j-just, eto…" somewhat his gaze petrified me, it was so uninterested it scared me, making me stutter no matter how hard I tried to keep my voice steady

"Hey teme!" almost yelled Naruto-kun coming to my side "Hinata-chan was only being nice to you! You have no right to treat her like that!"

Sasuke turned to see Naruto-kun almost bored "What does this have to do with you, dobe?"

"Hinata-chan is my friend and is under my care" he answered taking a step between Sasuke and me. I could feel how my face grew hotter

"So you are her bodyguard?" asked the raven haired boy without changing his tone of voice, he seemed so strangely like Neji-nii-san: cold, rude, annoyed, and with a clear tone of superiority, which was making Naruto-kun angry "I'm sorry for Hinata for having a hopeless, good for nothing, lame bodyguard like you that can't even perform the most basic of ninja techniques" he finished. Naruto-kun grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to his face

"WHAT DID YOU SAID TEME!?" yelled at him Naruto-kun, I was so scared, I didn't want them to start a fight in the classroom; specially because I could hear the distant footsteps of a large number of people getting closer

"Let me go Naruto, unless you want me to use force on you" menaced Sasuke, keeping his face calmed and straight. At that moment the doors to the classroom opened and our classmates entered the room.

The cheers and talking of the students entering the place suddenly quieted as they watched the scene. Naruto was holding Sasuke by the collar of the shirt and was clearly angered.

"NARUTO!!" Sakura was the first one to talk after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence "What are YOU doing to My Sasuke-kun? Let him go at once!"

"No" said Naruto-kun seriously, it was the first time he had ever talked back to Sakura "Not until he apologize to Hinata-chan"

"Hina..ta?" asked Sakura dumb folded, apparently she couldn't believe how Naruto-kun was acting, I nearly couldn't believe it myself. Standing up to the top of the class being the worst of the class and talking back to the girl he liked, all because of me? I couldn't help but to blush, I thanked god that I couldn't see my own face

"Naruto-kun, i-it's ok" I said putting my hand over his shoulder

"What is this? What's happening?" asked Iruka-sensei making his way through the students "Naruto? What are you doing?"

Naruto-kun pressed his shirt for moment before letting Sasuke go "You better thank Hinata-chan, if she hadn't asked I would have kicked you ass"

"You would have tried, and you would have failed" replied coldly Sasuke

"Yeah whatever, 'Top of the class'" said Naruto-kun turning his back on Sasuke "Come on Hinata-chan, we better don't waste our time with bastards with a stick up their ass" his comment made me and several other girls blush, but I followed him in silence. That incident had brought a lot of attention towards us.

"Ok everyone, take your seats and calm yourselves, we have a lesson to start" said Iruka-sensei clapping to get everyone's attention. Luckily Naruto-kun and Sasuke didn't get near the other for the rest of the day, and the classes went on smoothly.

However the consequences of our little scene became apparent during recess. Everyone was looking at us, younger and older academy students left their activities for a second to take a look at us as we walked near them. I felt so awkward, passing from bringing absolutely no attention towards me to being the student that everyone sees in the academy, even if it was for being with the boy who faced an Uchiha, and that boy was no other but Naruto-kun, who had also a bad reputation for some unknown reason to me. I walked a little scared behind Naruto-kun as he walked normally towards our tree with the swing on the end of the yard.

"Don't worry, they'll forget about it in a few days" said Naruto-kun with a large toothy grin. I can't help but to imagine a fox when he smiles like that with that cute whisker like marks of his cheeks "sorry for troubling you like this" he finished apologizing

I negated with my head "no, it's ok, you did it for me… I'm happy" I said, blushing a little. Naruto-kun looked at me firmly, making me blush more "what's the matter Naruto-kun?" I asked trying to break eye contact but I was charmed by his sparkling blue eyes

"Hinata…"he said to me with a serious tone "that's the first time I hear you say a phrase without a single stutter"

"W-w-wha..?!" I could feel my blush deepen, I couldn't but wonder what the color of my face was at that moment "well…I-I-I…eto…it w-was because…"

"Hey it's ok Hinata-chan, I like you the way you are; it was just a comment" he said smiling. I nodded, trying to conceal my happiness. He had said he liked me! As a friend no doubt but still!

I tried to stay calmed for the rest of the day but I couldn't help to blush and look slightly away whenever Naruto-kun talked to me, I just couldn't stand looking into his deep blue eyes. Somehow that calm yet determinate look of his always washes my worries away.

The recess was soon over and Naruto-kun and I were separated for our lessons with the boys and the girls respectively. I'm usually not that bad in those but today I was more of a klutz than any other day, I kept dropping stuff, or making silly mistakes; I even got Ino AND Sakura to be mad at me for staining her clothes when I dropped a vial of ink on them.

Slowly and torturous the day ended, and we were dismissed, I walked out of the classroom and when to meet Naruto-kun by our tree, he was there already, on the swing with a sad face, apparently I wasn't the only one with a bad day.

"B-bad day?" I asked as I got there

"Yeah, now that Sasuke is back my mistakes are noticed more" he said sadly. My poor Naruto-kun, he had been so confident this last week "how was it with the girls?"

"Te-te-terri-rible too" I said with a smile "I spi-spilled a vial of ink a-all over Ino's and S-Sakura's dresses, they were v-v-very angry"

"You did? I would have paid to see their faces!" laughed Naruto-kun. I laughed with him, because in fact, their faces were very funny. At that moment Iruka-sensei was walking on the yard talking with an older girl, he saw us and walked towards us

"Hey Naruto!" he said as he approached our tree, the girl was walking at his side "you did pretty good today too" he said smiling

"No I didn't, Sasuke got a perfect score and I only got little more than half the score" said Naruto-kun looking the other side

"But you still got over half of the class in the exercise, your grade was way better than the ones you used to get" Iruka-sensei said rubbing Naruto-kun's head slightly "and I've heard from your teachers that you have also improved considerably Hinata" he continued turning towards me

"T-thanks" was all that I managed to say

"These kids are Uzumaki Naruto and U- I mean Hyuuga Hinata?" asked the girl

"Who wants to know?" asked defensively Naruto-kun "Isn't it rude to ask someone's name without introducing yourself first?"

"My, my, I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Sawamura Midori, I'm 10 years old, nice to meet you" Midori had white hair, and aqua colored eyes, her skin was white and had little freckles around her nose. She was wearing a skirt that matched her eyes and a light yellow t-shirt. Somehow when I saw her I recalled my nightmare

"_It wasn't supposed to be like this! We worked hard to make it work this time!"_

She was her! In my dream, the girl that was on the floor near me. I had no doubt, she was Sawamura Midori

"Midori here" sensei pulled me back into reality "is the top of the class of her generation"

"C'mon sensei!" said Midori "I'm not that good, there are Hyuugas, and Uchihas in the academy and they are very talented, besides, there are students that graduated from the academy a lot of years younger that I am"

"Still you are one of the best we have in the academy right now" said Iruka-sensei "well I have to deliver some reports now; I'll see you guys later" Sensei walked away after saying goodbye

"So…" said Midori "you guys are friends uh?"

"Yeah, we are the best of friends" said Naruto-kun loudly, Midori giggled

"You are cute" she said "you two look good together; you'll make a good team one day"

"T-team?" I asked, what did she mean with teams?

"Genin are assigned to three-man teams under the tutelage of a Jounin after they graduate" she explained "if you two are assigned to the same team I'm sure you teamwork would be great, that's after all the point of the teams"

"That would kick ass!" cheered Naruto-kun "what do we need to be assigned to the same team?!"

"Well I really don't know, I've heard the team members are selected to create a balanced team, so I guess you'll have to work hard to stay in the middle of the class at least or that one gets on the tops and the other on the bottom, and get a little lucky to be assigned in the same team; who knows? Maybe the teachers won't break a friendship if they thing that it would help a team" she finished putting her index finger on her chin and looking into sky "well I've to go, I'll see you around"

"Ok, bye" said Naruto-kun

"T-take c-care" I said, the older girl nodded slightly and turned around starting to walk away. She stopped a few feet after and turned around

"By the way, would you like me to train you? I can give you tips and help you in your training, I got a little more experience and could help you improve" she said smiling

"Really? Sure, that sound great!" cheered Naruto-kun "don't you agree Hinata-chan?" I answered by nodding

"Ok, it's settled, after school tomorrow, this same tree ok?" and without another word she walked away

"I can't believe it! One of the superiors will help us train! Sasuke will be defeated next time, no doubt!" Naruto-kun danced happily around, but somehow I kept wondering why would an older student like to help us train, what was in it for her? But as long as Naruto-kun was happy I wouldn't mind about that. "Talking about training, it's time for us to do our stuff, Hinata-chan!" Naruto-kun and I had been doing extra training after school, practicing shuriken throw, basic taijutsu and restudying the lessons and doing the homework together, Kurenai-san would pick me up an hour later for that matter.

The afternoon went on and the night had started to claim the sky when Kurenai-san came to pick me up. Naruto-kun and I walked with Kurenai-san towards my house that night. Naruto-kun was going to have dinner at a ramen stand, so even if his house was in the other direction he gets to go with us part of the way.

We were almost at Ichiraku's, Naruto-kun's favorite ramen bar when I suddenly heard something, a faint noise of metal, maybe combat. I got scared; could it be an enemy invasion? "K-k-kurenai-san, I-I hear s-something o-o-over there"I said scared

"Uh? In that direction? I don't hear anything, are you sure it wasn't an animal or something?" she asked me, I negated with my head

"I'm s-s-sure, it's ninjas" I reaffirmed

"Ok, I'll go check it out, you two stay here" she said seriously

"Hell no, we are coming with you!" said Naruto-kun even more serious

"Ok, ok, I don't want to argue with you right now, just stay behind and don't do anything harsh" said Kurenai taking out a kunai knife and walking in the direction I had said

We walked fast but cautious, towards a nearby training field. The place was full of kunai and shuriken: all the trees and the whole ground was full of them. A young boy was panting in the middle of it, thick sweat dropping from his forehead; he was breathing heavily, his raven colored hair messy and dirty, and his clothes cut and bruised all over.

"Sasuke" said Naruto-kun under his breath

"Uchiha Sasuke?!" confirmed Kurenai-san surprised "What has he been doing? This place looks like a battlefield!"

For some reason, it was clear to me. Maybe it was something in the way he was breathing, or the marks in his clothes "He was t-t-training" Kurenai started to walk towards Sasuke, but Naruto stopped her

"What are you doing? He could be hurt" said the chunnin

"We must not interrupting him, dattebayo" explained Naruto-kun, Kurenai-san looked doubtful for a second, but folded her kunai

"Ok, let's go then" and without more she and Naruto-kun turned around and walked back to the road, I stayed back and kept looking at a sweating Sasuke for a second before following them, what in the world had happened to him?

An hour after that I was sweating like him, the heavy drops falling to the dojo's floor in the Hyuuga haven, my afternoon training with my father had come to an end, again I had failed, and my father was clearly not pleased with my performance

"I expect you to work harder and do it better next time, for the sake of the clan, Hinata" he said before leaving the dojo

"'For the sake of the clan' repeated Habataku making fun of it "How can he forget about personal happiness and development? He can't expect you to be a good clan leader if you are not happy and feel your life filled and complete"

"But I'm t-terrible at Jyuuken, and the clan i-is based in the m-m-mastery of the family's taijutsu" I said sadly, still panting

"Yes but that style doesn't work for everybody, there are some peoples' bodies that doesn't fit the movements and positions of the Jyuuken" continued Habataku "Yours for example, you are far more flexible, agile, dexterous, and fast, but you can't exploit those advantages because the Jyuuken is holding you up"

I was listening to her surprised. I had never considered the possibility that the fault wasn't mine but more like it was the Jyuuken's fault that I weren't good at it. All the clan members had used it for generations and I wasn't able to use it at its fullest because my body wasn't fit for it. I felt even more of a loser

"You know? If you want I can teach you a variant of Jyuuken that can help you perform better, it will allow you to use your body's form to its maximum potential, and it can also improve your basic forms and make you stronger in combat and can help you earn your father's acknowledge"

"How can I do that using a style different from Jyuuken?" I asked confused

"It is a fusion of the Jyuuken and another taijutsu style called Shina To Be; it contains all the movements of Jyuuken but fixed for better control, and flexibility, instead of the rigid and centered form of the Jyuuken. It would come better for someone like you Hina-chan, what do you say? Want to give it a try?"

I felt uneasy, I had never practiced a taijutsu style different for Jyuuken, and I had received training in it since before I had learned to talk. Yet, Habataku's words brought an interesting alternative, an escape that allowed me to think that my low performance in Jyuuken wasn't completely my fault, and also her voice had something in it, something unknown but familiar that makes me trust her and believe that it was the better choice

"Ok Habataku, I-I'll give it a try" I replied, besides, I had nothing to lose

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Well that's it, please let me know what do you think of it, flames, flowers and annon reviews are accepted, please do review : )

Okami's note: This chapter was checked on school, so I'm not sure if something slipped. Remember your corrections make me improve as beta : P

DISCLAIMER: Shina To Be doesn't belongs to me, its property of Dame Wren, Thanks to _DG Friendly_ for pointing that I had forgotten to mention it, sorry for that


	4. Ghosts & Visions

HEY ALL

Here is the new chapter

Thaks to Hikari no Okami for being the beta in this (and all) chapter

Enjoy

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Ghosts and Visions

The next morning Naruto-kun and I were waiting for Midori-senpai under the tree with the swing, the tree we claimed as ours.

"Midori-senpai is late, did she meant what she said about helping us train?" asked Naruto-kun, but I wasn't sure if he was asking me directly  
"Maybe she h-had something to do?" I asked back  
"I really hope she comes, I don't like to waste my time" said Naruto-kun putting his hands behind his head as he leaned on the tree and closed his eyes  
"Then you should have started training without me, why would you waste time waiting for me?" Midori-senpai's voice came a second before she landed on a branch of the tree. She jumped down to the ground "Come on Naruto-kun, stand up. Before anything happens or anyone complains" he said a second before Naruto-kun open his mouth to reply "I'm sorry I'm late, but I had to talk Iruka-sensei into giving me these" she said showing two little squared paper sheets  
"What? You are late for some sheets of paper?" asked Naruto-kun  
"Well yes, but these are not regular sheets; these will be basic for your training" she said giving me one and gave the other one to Naruto-kun "You have already received lessons about chakra right?" we nodded affirmative "Well, as you know there are five elements of chakra: Fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water; each one has a weakness and a fortitude, and every person is attuned to at least one kind of element"  
"Ok, ok, Mizuki-sensei already explained that to us, what does it has to do with these papers?" asked Naruto-kun  
"This little paper allow us to know what kind of element you are attuned to" explained Midori-senpai, I was very surprised  
"A-amazing, theses little papers will r-really do so?" I asked still having problems to believe it  
"Yup" she answered smiling  
"THAT KICKS ASS! How do they work?" asked Naruto-kun excited  
"Well it's pretty simple, all you have to do is channel some chakra to the paper, and depending on how it reacts we'll know your element" she said removing a bang for her forehead  
"What will h-h-happen when we channel the chakra?" I asked her  
"Well if it burns and gets fire, you are a fire **_(no...really?)_**, if its cut then you are a wind, if it becomes rugged then you would be a lightning type, if it turns to dust its earth, and if it gets wet you are a water user; it's pretty simple, and if you have more than one element attuned then they will present one after the other in quick succession. How about giving it a try?" she said inviting  
I was eager to try it! "C-c-can I-I go f-first?" I asked shyly, not wanting to sound selfish, even less in front of Naruto-kun  
"Sure Hinata-chan! Give it a try I want to see what element you are!" said Naruto-kun excited, I nodded, held the paper with my thumb and index finger and concentrated some chakra on my fingers trying to pass it to the paper; since the Jyuuken style uses small blades of chakra to affect the enemy tenketsu it is a great training for chakra control and chakra manipulation,so I had no problem with this. Suddenly, the paper got wet

"Well that's no surprise, you have the appearance of a water type shinobi Hinata-san" said Midori-senpai "ok we'll come back with you in a _sec_ Hinata, let's see Naruto-kun now"  
"ALRIGHT! It's my turn!" Naruto-kun took the paper with his index and middle fingers and closed his eyes and started to concentrate, his forehead trembled a little, apparently due to his concentration, both Midori-senpai and I were waiting to see the reaction of Naruto-kun's paper, and the seconds passed slowly as he molded his chakra. After a minute… "Hey! Midori-senpai, mine's broken it's not working" …Naruto-kun said that. Midori-senpai released a sigh  
"You never actually managed to take chakra to your fingers; at most the chakra reached your palm, but…" Midori-senpai continued in a so low whisper I almost missed it "were you really at this low level?" I didn't understand what she meant with 'were'. She walked to him took the paper from his hand  
"Hey!" complained Naruto-kun but Midori-senpai just walked again a little  
"I guess we'll need to work on chakra manipulation with you Naruto-kun" she said simply "but before I focus with you Naruto-kun I'll give Hinata-san here something to work on" with that she came and stopped in front of me "Do you know any ninjutsu yet Hinata-san?" she asked me  
"W-well…only H-henge" I replied shyly  
"I see, we'll work on some other basic ninjutsu other day but for now I'd ask you to work on this" she said taking out a little scroll from her pouch "that's a basic water jutsu, I brought a basic jutsu for each element from the library, so I could see what are your abilities no matter what element you came out to be. Now as for this jutsu, it's a real simple jutsu that's focused on manipulating water, giving it the shape of a senbon needle and throwing it towards a target. Would you like me to give you a demonstration?" she asked me after explaining  
"If y-you could, that would help me, p-please" I said. She really wanted me to try to learn a jutsu! I mean! I can't! I'm not that good! I'm sure I'm going to fail!  
"Ok, watch carefully" she said taking a small water bottle out from her pouch, opening it and putting it in front of her on the ground. She performed two hand seals and suddenly a small amount of water came out of the bottle, floating slowly, it took the shape of a perfect senbon needle and flew towards the tree, splashing on the bark "well I'm still practicing, but I'm sure it will work best for a water type, if you practice I'm sure you could leave a mark on the bark, not only splash some water over it, hee, hee" she giggled in a kind of silly way "So, wanna give it a try Hinata-san?"  
"But I'd neve-" I tried to protest, explain her that I would never be able to do it, that I don't have the ability to do it, but, she simply said, as if reading my mind  
"Before saying you can't why don't give it a try?" she said caring and with a smile. I yield, she was right I should at least give it a try, right? "That's the spirit, now in the scroll is all the theory and if you have any doubts I'll be right here helping Naruto-kun, ok?" after that she went to Naruto-kun and left me with the scroll and the water bottle to practice  
"So…ninjutsu training eh?" asked me Habataku  
"I guess that's her s-specialty" I replied  
"Could be" she admitted "but she's awfully skilled"  
"Well that's u-understandable, she's her generation's #1 rookie" I said opening the scroll  
"I don't mean that, when she landed on the branch of the tree, she made not a single sound, same when she landed on the ground after that, neither a single leaf fell from the tree, her stealth is amazing for her age, at least chunnin level. And about that demonstration…what if you had been a lightning type or an earth type? Does she knows at least one jutsu from every element?" questioned Habataku  
"Well I g-guess she does?" I asked reluctant  
"I haven't met a single shinobi that at age 10 know one jutsu from each element, hell! Most of shinobi never gets to know a jutsu from each element. This girl Midori is amazing" acknowledged Habataku  
"Stealth abilities, ninjutsu, she's beautiful too; I wish I could be like her" I said a little depressed, I wasn't a cute girl and I wasn't skilled neither, I turned to see her and Naruto-kun. He had a small leaf on his forehead  
"Come on Naruto-kun, concentrate! You can do this" she motivated her  
"I know! Shut up, you are distracting me!" answered Naruto-kun kinda angry  
"All you have to do is blow that leaf from your forehead using chakra" she explained, probably it wasn't the first time she had said that  
"I'm trying!" said Naruto-kun frustrated, he looks so cute when he's concentrating, how his eyebrows shake a little when he tries too hard, and that determinate look on his eyes  
"Have you even started reading the scroll yet Hinata-san?" Midori-senpai said scolding melightly, no angry was shown in her voice  
"S-s-sorry!" I almost yelled and returned my sight to the scroll.

The jutsu had simple theory, it was basically taking control of the molecules of the water using chakra, however the actual performance was harder, as the shape of the water continuously changed if the chakra wasn't applied to it correctly, thus complicating the performance of the jutsu, after twenty minutes of trying I hadn't even managed the water to take the correct form of a senbon. Apparently Naruto-kun wasn't having an easy time either; he hadn't managed to blow the leaf from his forehead yet. However Midori-senpai kept on cheering him ever so patiently.

By the time Kurenai-san came to pick me up I had managed to make the water take the form of a senbon but at the time of shooting it towards the tree I'd lose its shape. It was tiring and frustrating, but Midori-senpai said that I had done a great job in just an hour, and she asked me to do a special training in my house. She had said that I needed a little more control to perfect the jutsu, and possible a little more stamina too, so she told to climb a wall or tree of my house without using my hands; when I asked how I could ever manage that she explained that I had to concentrate chakra on my feet than send it at a constant rate towards the surface of the wall or tree to get attached to it.

I left the academy with Kurenai-san totally exhausted; however, Naruto-kun kept practicing. He just said that he wouldn't leave until he could remove the leaf from his forehead, Midori-senpai volunteered to make him company, so that I wouldn't be worried. She gave me another piece of the paper as Iruka-sensei had given her more than she needed.

I reached my house and met my father for my afternoon training, I was so exhausted even removing my normal clothes and fitting my training outfit was uncomfortable. However as training went on I could feel how my movements instead of becoming slower were quicker, my reaction improved too, and slowly my fatigue disappeared, I felt fresh again, faster even. At the end of the training I had been able to stop my father's attacks on a regular basis, and even counterattack sometimes, although, of course, my father was able to block, or deflect all of my blows

"Very good Hinata" said my father "I'm proud of you, you have improved greatly" and without another word he left the dojo. Slowly my tiredness caught up to me and I laid on my back panting and bathed in sweat  
"My father…! He said I had done well!" I cheered "during training I…felt…so…capable"  
"You did great indeed" said Habataku  
"Thanks!" I was feeling so happy, so fulfilled! My father had complimented me! And I had expended my day with Naruto-kun! And I would see him tomorrow as well! I felt like if I could do anything I wanted to! And I wasn't going to waste that!I stood up and walked towards a wall

"She said all I had to do was concentrate chakra on my feet right?" I asked Habataku  
"That's right, although you might want a running start until you are used to it" she explained answering my question

I used a few seconds to concentrate my chakra, It was the first time I were to concentrate my chakra on my feet, it was usually in my hands. However I was able to apply my training on the Jyuuken to the task and with a small current of wind the chakra reached my feet. I charged towards the wall, putting my feet on the wall and pushing myself upwards, and then I placed my other foot on the wall expecting to feel the gravity pulling me down, but my feet stayed attached to the wall, I took another step, non stopping my run, step after step my feet remained attached to the wall, I WAS RUNNING ON THE WALL! I felt very happy; however, in my happiness I neglected my concentration and on my next step I started falling down from the wall. My heartbeat fastened like never before, I tried to grab from something but I continued falling, with a sharp pain in the back of my head my vision turned black.

Suddenly my vision returned, however I wasn't feeling the solid and cold floor on my back, the lights where blurred spots on a dark blue night, slowly I was able to refocus my sight. I was watching the village from above, more specifically a thermal bath. I tried to turn my head to see my body and the place I was standing, however I couldn't see anything! Apparently I had no body, and I was floating! I wondered in terror if I had died and became a ghost!

Without any order from me I started to float towards the trees surrounding the thermal bath, I passed silently among the leaves, until I saw it: a man, a little bit old but still capable, probably around his 50's. He was wearing red clothes and had long white spiky hair; he was using a pair of binoculars. He was peeking into the thermal baths! A lecher!

"Come on out" he said seriously without moving an inch. Had I been discovered? I remained in silence. Barely ten feet away a figure stepped outside its hiding place "I'm amused you were able to sneak on me this close" said the man "you could have attacked me from farther away, why getting this close to me? Aiming for a sure kill?" asked the man  
"I'm sorry Jiraiya-sama" it was Midori-senpai! "I have no intention to fight you; if I sneaked it was so that I wouldn't blow your hiding and ruin your research"  
"I'm flattered" said the man a little more relaxed "you did all that just to meet me, the great ladies man and heartbreaker Jiraiya, still I'm sorry, I'm interested in women, not children, come see me again when you're mature enough"  
"I'm sorry sir, but I've haven't come here to offer you my favors" said Midori-senpai. What was she doing with a perverted like him? It could be dangerous! "I need your council"  
"Ah! Asking the expert for a council with boys, eh?" asked the man still peeking through his binoculars. Midori-senpai was beautiful and skilled, why would she need love council?  
"There's a boy, yes. I met him yesterday" WHAT! Could it be Midori-senpai likes Naruto-kun! "But before you get any wrong idea, my interest is not sentimental; I have the intention to train him" I was calmed again; it would be terrible if Midori-senpai would had liked Naruto-kun…Ah! Naruto-kun!  
"What does it has to do with me? You are very capable, what's your shinobi rank?" asked the man, pulling me back into the conversation  
"Academy student" Midori-senpai replied seriously  
"Stop bluffing me, if that's true I'll congratulate the Old man, the level on the academy has raised so much that it scares me" said the man turning to finally see Midori-senpai  
"I know that you are not usually in the village, and travel around the world writing your famous collection" said Midori-senpai "that's why I couldn't miss the opportunity to ask for your help when I learned you were in the Leaf"  
"I'm not interested in helping you train some boy, I retired from that job. Being a teacher is something I stopped doing quite a long time ago and I'm absolutely not going to teach you how to teach" said the man crossing his arms over his chest  
"Please, Jiraiya-sama" said Midori-senpai "I'm not skilled enough to train him, he's way below the level I expected him to be, and I need to know which path I should take in his training"  
"What's with this boy that makes him so important to you and why should I take an interest in his training?" asked the man Miodri-senpai called Jiraiya-sama  
"Because…I'm talking about _HIS_ son" said Midori-senpai. His son? Who's son? Does Midori-senpai knows about Naruto-kun's parents? "And he'll be vital against Konoha's enemies, enemies such as your former teammate"  
The red wearing man's eyes widened "J-Just who are you?"  
"I know that what you are about to hear is hard to believe but…" Midori-senpai started to speak when a familiar voice called my attention from behind  
"HINATA?" Mother! "What are you doing here?" I tried to turn around, but suddenly a white blinding light flashed and impeded my vision, I blinked trying to protect my eyes from the light  
"Hinata? Are you alright? Hinata can you hear me!" the voice was still there, I tried to focus my vision. The white wouldn't hurt anymore "Hinata are you alright? You received quite a hit from the fall!" Suddenly I noticed the cold floor of the dojo was there again, on my back and that I was staring into the whiteness of the ceiling  
"I…I-I'm not d-dead?" I asked lowly  
"Thanks goodness you are not!" Habataku's voice resembled my mother's so much…  
"Mother…" as the tears started to roll down from my eyes and covered my cheeks, I sobbed. I wanted to see my mom so much... I miss her a lot "…mommy…"  
"Shhh, shhhh" comforted me Habataku, suddenly I could feel her warm embrace, though I couldn't see anything nor anyone else in the dojo with me. Suddenly she started to sing, a song that was, no, that isvery special for me, the song my mother sang to me when I was crying. That special song that stopped my tears and my pains…"Mommy…" I wish so much that Habataku could be my mother's spirit

The next morning came bringing renewal for both my body and my spirit. All the bruises from my training session with my father and the pain from last night's fall disappeared completely. I was feeling great that morning

"Good morning, Habataku!" I greeted cheerily, picked up my training clothes and got changed, walking to the gardens as the sun was just rising on the horizon.

Taking a seat besides a small pound I practiced the water jutsu Midori-senpai gave me, getting very good results this time. I was able to form a perfect needle that would keep its shape as it was flying, but it didn't have the correct chakra bended in it because it would leave no mark on the target, no matter if it was a tree, a wall or a small stone. It was still a weak jutsu.

After that, I practiced a little more of the hand free climbing, being more careful with my concentration and chakra. I still couldn't keep myself on the wall for a long time, but I could feel how I was improving more and more with each try.

When the time for me to go to the academy approached, I returned to the house, took a quick shower and changed into the first clothes I could take out from my closet.  
I almost ran down the stairs to the dining room to have breakfast with my family, greeting them "Good morning!" in a happy voice. I was very joyful that morning  
although the reply from both my father and sister was the usual one, this morning it didn't affect me that much.

Just after I had finished my breakfast Kurenai-san arrived to escort me to the academy. With a smile on my lips I walked to another day with Naruto-kun.

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Well that's it for now, please R&R :-D


	5. Training to the Death

Hello all! i'm back

Here is the new chapter, as usual thank Hikari no Okami, my beta, otherwise this chapter would be so terrible you couldn't even read it XD

anyway on with it!

(theres a poll at the end so please check it out)

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TRAINING TO THE DEATH"

"You seem strangely happy today, Hinata-san" told me Kurenai-san on our usual walk to the academy

"You t-think so? Well, it's a f-fine morning isn't it?" I replied

"Yes, yes it is" she said with a small smile "how have things been going at the academy?"

"T-they have been i-improving" I said

"That girl…the one that was with your friend Naruto-kun, who is she?"

Suddenly the image of Midori-senpai in those woods at night with that man of red clothes came to my mind; she had said '_HIS_ son' she was talking about Naruto-kun? And if so, she knew something about Naruto-kun's parents? Maybe she was helping train other people, and she was simply talking about some other boy. I had to investigate the matter.

"Is something the matter?" asked Kurenai-san, apparently I had been silent too much

"No, n-n-nothing" I said a little ashamed "she's an older girl that's helping us train, she's the top student of her generation"

"I see, so she's giving you advice on your extra training?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun w-wanted to do more and b-better training, now t-that he knows how hard Sasuke is training a-after the aca-academy"

"Not wanting to be left behind by his rival is it?" questioned Kurenai closing his eyes "and with your family; how are the things going?"

"Well, t-t-things haven't changed; they r-remain the same as a-always" I said lowly "but I think I'm getting used to it"

"I suppose that's ok, just don't let it damper your other sources of happiness, I'm sure you know that not all families are like that"

"Yes I understand it's the weight of being an old, respectable family of Konoha"

"You are right, more than you know. You will be a good information gatherer shinobi if you choose such path" Kurenai said smiling

"T-thanks" I managed to say trying not to stutter, but the compliment caught me by surprise

"We have arrived" said Kurenai after a few more seconds, the academy doors where just a few steps away "give my greeting to naruto-kun, I'll come to pick you up the usual time" said Kurenai-san I nodded, waved her good bye and she disappeared

I walked to the door where Naruto-kun was already waiting for me "hey Hinata-chan!" he greeted me happily

"Good m-morning Naruto-kun" I replied with a small smile

"Check this out!" Naruto-kun took out a small paper and started concentrated very hard

"That's one of the papers Midori-senpai gave us" I recognized the paper, but before I could say another word naruto-kun was surrounded by a large amount of chakra, so much that I could see it without my Byakugan, since when was Naruto-kun able to call on such a large amount of chakra? Even more, did Naruto-kun have this amount of chakra?!

The paper that Naruto-kun was holding in his hand suddenly was cut in half. He finished concentrating and took a deep breath

"Heh! How's that uh?" asked Naruto-kun with a toothy smile

"W-wow Naruto-kun! So you are a wind element user" I cheered not only surprised and happy but also very proud for him, he had finally managed to do it!

"Surprised? Haha! This is nothing for me! I'm the future Hokage after all!"

"O-of course!" I said smiling

"Hey! Can I see you do it again?" he asked

"You mean using a chakra paper?" I questioned back

"Yeah! You do it so easily!" he cheered

I took out the spare paper Midori-senpai had given me the day before, I placed it in my and concentrated my chakra to activate it, expecting to feel it getting wet. However something different happened.

First it rugged, then it got cut in half, and one of the part burned and the other got wet

"W-w-what happened?" I asked scared!

"I dunno!" said naruto-kun almost yelling, he was clearly surprised

"M-m-maybe this one do was broken?" I asked, why would it react like this today?

"Yeah, yeah!" said Naruto-kun trying to act as if it wouldn't had surprised him "that most be it" he crossed his arms "let's go Hinata-chan" he said walking into the academy, I followed him in silence, and turned once to see the almost extinguished fire and the wet piece of paper that were the remains of the chakra paper.

During class that day I asked Iruka-sensei if someone could be attuned to more elements than the one he or she was born with training; but he said that he hadn't heard of someone that had been able to do so.

Later that day Mizuki-sensei taught us a new ninja technique, a simple illusion of ourselves that could be used to create a diversion to force the enemy into lowering his guard, he called the technique "Bunshin no Jutsu" or "Clone Technique", it was easy, much more than the Water Needle Jutsu that Midori-senpai taught me. However poor Naruto-kun couldn't perform a single clone no matter how hard he tried, his clones would be pale and couldn't even stand, let alone move; to make things worse Sasuke was able to create 8 clones, Ino performed also 8 and Sakura created a good 6 clones while I could only do 3.

That remained me how incompetent I was. Yesterday I felt like I could do anything but after seeing Ino, Sasuke, and Sakura doing so good I noticed how I was completely talentless. Naruto-kun and I were sitting sadly by out tree after class that day when Midori-senpai reached us.

"Hey guys, why the long face?" she asked

"What long face?!" Naruto-kun stood up and smiled, although I could tell he was faking it

"For a sec I… nevermind! How was your day?"

"Ter-" I was starting to answer when Naruto-kun answered even higher

"Good! Good! Everything was perfect, can we start our training?"

"It's ill mannered to interrupt someone, even if you are trying to protect that someone, Naruto-kun. You have something to say Hinata-san?" Midori-senpai talked calmly

I negated with my head

"Ok, then, let's start today's session by performing Bunshin, Iruka-sensei told me you were taught that today"

"That's a simple technique!" replied quickly Naruto-kun "a ninja of my power doesn't need to do that! Why don't you teach me a cool new technique? Yesterday you told me you would teach me a wind technique"

"Well if it's a technique so simple for a ninja of your level I'm sure it would be a piece of cake to perform it just to shut my mouth right?" she said smiling nicely

"Eh…about that…" Naruto-kun smiled and took two steps back placing his hand behind her head

"What's the matter Naruto-kun?" with a small poof another Midori-senpai appeared behind Naruto-kun, and he bumped into her

"eh? so this one is the real? The one in front is…?" asked Naruto-kun point from one Midori-senpai to the other

"Nope" said the first Midori-senpai touching his head

"W-w-what this? T-two Midori-senpais?!" I asked activating my Byakugan but found that both had chakra systems!

"You have a twin?!" asked Naruto-kun

The second Midori-senpai disappeared with a poof, the remaining one giggled "No, it's my newest ninja technique; it's called 'Kage Bunshin', it creates a solid clone, not just illusions like the usual Bunshin" she explained.

A shadow of sad covered Naruto-kun's face, I thought I understood him, if he had problems with a regular bunshin how could he use a more advanced technique?

"Now" continued Midori-senpai "this one is a forbidden technique, Jounin level, but I believe that with the correct amount of training one of you could perform it, and because this isn't a genjutsu like bunshin your regular performance is such technique won't affect Kage Bunshin at all" at those words Naruto-kun's eyes recovered their shine, but I started to have my doubts: forbidden Jounin level technique? What was she teaching us?

"I'm pretty new to the jutsu myself but as you were able to see I can perform it, but it's not that useful in battle at my level. For today training session, first I'd like to see Hinata's Water Needle Jutsu and after that we'll have some physical training and in the last minute we'll start with Kage Bunshin and I'll give you both some elemental techniques to train on your own, how does that sounds?" she asked

I was a little worried of how could we endure such a routine, but Naruto-kun started to yell excited that he wanted to start already and I heard him mumbling something about defeating Sasuke, as such Midori-senpai took out a bottle of water

"Hinata-san, if you please" she said taking a few steps back to give me room. I took a deep breath and walked in front of the tree that would be the target

"Stay calmed" Habataku whispered to me "You can do this" that voice, the voice of my mother, it gave me a spark of hope and determination

"C'mon Hinata-chan! You can do it!" cheered me Naruto-kun. My heart skipped a beat and my face grew hotter 'I won't fail in front of Naruto-kun!' I told myself.

I performed the hand seals and concentrated on the water of the bottle closing my eyes. I could feel my chakra around the water and taking it and keeping it together, slowly I sculpted it into a senbon needle, reinforcing the shape with more chakra and finally threw it forward, I could feel how it splash against the bark of the tree, I noticed I had completely stopped breathing, as such I took a deep breath

"Amazing Hinata-chan!" Naruto-kun complimented me, but I was sure it had been terrible

"Splendid!" Midori-senpai was clapping!

I opened one eye, trying to see what had happened, I saw the tree, its bark splashed with water but nothing else. I released a depressed sigh

"What was that?" asked Midori-senpai

"I failed again" I said lowly

"Don't say come here" Midori-senpai took my hand and walked to the tree, placed my hand over the bark "feel here" she said passing my hand up and down "can you feel that little hole on the bark?"

"yes"

"that's the exact point in which you hit it" she told me "your jutsu improved at such point that u were able to leave a mark on the tree, for just a day that's a huge achievement, specially for someone so young"

"Yeah, Hinata-chan you kick ass!" said loudly Naruto-kun. I turned to see him and smiled, it was the first time I had failed and yet I was congratulated, I wanted to cry out of joy.

Midori-senpai put us to run laps to the whole square, then several series of pushups, sit ups, and abdominals too. After almost a whole hour she stopped us and handed each one two scrolls a red one to each other and a green one for Naruto-kun and a blue one for me

"The red one contains the Kage Bunshin, I trust you with this information, that's one of the leaf secret ninjutsu, as such you have to handle it with care and never show it to anyone else. The other one is an elemental jutsu" she said "I'll give you both a small demonstration on the elemental jutsu but you guys will have to practice those on your own"

I opened the blue scroll, it had the name 'Water Cannon Jutsu' apparently after reading it quickly it was a jutsu that sent chakra molded water out of the mouth of the ninja in the form of balls, it was great to use when you had no other water source but your own saliva

"Ok watch carefully, I'll start with Naruto-kun. Yours is the 'Wind Edge Jutsu' it's the base for another wind jutsu called 'Wind Scythe' it consist on keening the edge of a blade, kunai, or shuriken using the air around it" she took out two shuriken "a regular shuriken can deal some damage" she said throwing it against a wall, bouncing harmless against it "but a wind edged shuriken is even more powerful" she said concentrating some chakra on a shuriken and performing a few hand seals, making it glow green and throwing it against the same wall and it cut a small section of the wall passed through it like butter and hit the wall on the other side of the street!

"THAT'S-THAT'S JUST AMAZING!" yelled Naruto-kun

"I-incredible! Such p-power!" I stuttered unable to hide my surprise

"Now now, there are shinobi that could have penetrated more walls!" said Midori-senpai "I hope you can get this ninjutsu Naruto-kun, I know it could be hard but if you keep practicing I'm sure you'll get it"

"ALL RIGHT! I'll go check this stuff right away!" said Naruto-kun opening his scroll

"Ok just don't wander too far we'll check that Kage Bunshin ok?" she turned to see me "ok now Hinata-san let's see that Water Cannon jutsu, how does that sound?" she said smiling

"um, ok"

"Right, I'm sure that you understand the basics of water manipulation right?" she asked me with her so calmed voice

"I d-don't master it yet, but I know the t-theory" I replied

"That's great, you're so smart; now this jutsu is kinda like the last one, but instead of altering the shape of the water now you will use chakra to produce more water using your own natural source as the base, look it's not as complicated as it may seem, just look carefully" she made three hand seals and suddenly her cheeks grew bigger, as if she had something in her mouth and threw a small ball of water from it, she took a deep breath after that "wow, I must be careful with those demonstrations…too much chakra" she said smiling but taking a hand to her forehead "I guess it's hard to understand just from watching it, but once in your mouth you'll understand it. First it will be useful only to create water where you can't access it, but if you mold enough chakra in it you could use it as an attack"

"That's u-useful" I replied to her helping her standing

"Yeah, It is, usually water ninjutsu are more complicated to perform because either you need to use a body of water of pull the water in the air and that's tiresome, this is a simpler technique to use have water nearby"

I helped Midori-senpai walk to the tree and she sit there

"Thanks Hinata-san, now practice your ninjutsu, we'll see if we have time for me to recover a little before you have to go"

Naruto-kun and I practiced for several minutes, and certainly it wasn't so difficult, but I couldn't create water, only more saliva, although Midori-senpai told me that I almost got it

After that we practiced that Kage Bunshin technique, it came to be an extremely difficult technique, it left me depleted after a single try I had nothing else to give, however Naruto-kun kept trying, he wasn't anything close to be exhausted, and when Kurenai-san came to pick me up he was still trying.

When I was leaving Midori-senpai came to me with a warning "don't practice _That_ jutsu on your own"

I understood why, I was lacking the control or chakra capacity to perform the technique, it was extremely dangerous, if I were to overdo it I could end up dead

The full moon was shinning high in the sky that night, and luckily for me my father canceled our evening training and organized a spar with my sister the next morning

However I had no rest for that night "well now it's the time to start the Taijutsu training we talked about" said Habataku

"W-w-what? Tonight? Can't we wait? I'm t-terribly exhausted! I can't move" I asked her, but more likely I pleaded her to please start another day

"I'm so sorry, but this needs to be performed under the full moon, as such…take out your clothes, and go outside, I'll explain your training"

Removing my clothes I walked outside in the middle of the night

"ok, go into the pound over there, for the following month you will dance under the light of the moon, from this full moon to the next, the dance is hard, complicated and extremely tired, however it's the basic for the training for you to master this movements"

The dance was as hard as she had told me, I was sweating direly after only a few minutes, my feet ached and my body was lump, yet even like that I could still move my arms and legs, performing the tiresome steps of the "moon dance" as Habataku called it.

I kept falling once and again, yet Habataku cheered me in a firm tone, bringing me up to my feet every time, dripping from both the sweat and the water of the pond I danced to the moon for hours, until finally Habataku told me to go to sleep.

Heavily and slowly I stepped out of the water, making one step at a time my way back to the house. I was completely exhausted, but it was too soon to get my rest apparently

"There's someone over that wall!" warned me Habataku, the adrenaline rushed to my muscles and I picked up my robe covering up my body as well as I could

"W-w-w-who's t-t-t-there!" I cried out

"Hinata-chan!" It was Naruto-kun! He crawled down the wall, and walked slowly towards me. His clothes were ripped on several spots, had mud all over and he looked terrible, his hair was even more messy than usual and his eyes, usually bright and dazzling now were dull, half closed

"Naruto-kun, what in the world happened to you?" I asked him, he smiled

"That's the second time I hear you say a phrase without stuttering" he half-laughed

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks "Don't go saying weird stuff at a time like this Naruto-kun! You are battered! Tell me, what happened to you?" I asked him worried

"Heh, you didn't stuttered again…and I like your robe" he said falling to his knees, I ran to his side

"Nar-" I tried to press about what had happened to him but he talked again

"Nee, Hinata…Don't go trying that Kage Bunshin Jutsu…is a killer" and suddenly he collapsed over me, I feared the worst. I checked his vitals…and my fears increased

"FATHER!" I yelled calling him in the night

That's it, please read and review, let me know what you think about the story so i can improve it

We are getting close the point in the that we'll take the original timeline, as such i have a question

Who should be their jounin sensei?

1.- Kakashi

2.- Anko

3.- Midori

4.-Kurenai

5.-Ebisu

6.-OC

7.- Other (tell me who)

Tell me your answer in a review, if you can add a reason of why it would be better, but the number or the name alone is also ok.

Start voting! The voting ends until i post a chapter called "Jounin sensei"


	6. Memories on a Dark Night Part 1

Hello there!

Im back with "half" the other chapter, im going to post the other half of it later this week, but i give you this for now!

Thank "Okami" my usual beta (Hikari no Okami) for making this chapter understandable, and i remind you there is a poll about their Jounin sensei

so far the votes are:

Kakashi: 2

Kurenai: 2

Anko: 3

Vote in a review, send me ur comments about the story, what you like, what you dont like, and what you would like to see! if i like your idea i'll add it to the fic!

the line in the text is used to start/end a flash back ;)

* * *

Memories on a Dark Night (Part 1)

A thunder woke me up, and I hit the cold window glass with my head. I rubbed my forehead trying to ease the pain and saw my reflection on the window: My hair had grown quite a lot since that night; it was almost as long as Sakura's now.

"That night…" I couldn't believe it even after all these years. That night, the night that changed everything. I stretched my arm to pick up the photograph on my bedside table. Looking at it I recognized my little 7 year old self, shy and introvert, I was blushing terribly while he had his arm around me and was grinning to the camera. His sunshine hair sparking and his whisker like marks on his cheeks stood out against the simple dark haired girl playing with her fingers tips besides him…

"I miss you...Naruto-kun" even if I knew he wouldn't hear me I couldn't help missing him and wishing he knew "cheer up Hinata!" I said to me "he knows that you miss him…wherever he is right now… he is in a nice place after all right?" I asked the darkness in a nostalgic tone looking outside the window and watching the rain fall on the village

"Why did you have to go?" I felt very lonely "…Naruto-kun"

"Now, now, it's not the time to be thinking on such thinks, Hinata" said Habataku. You have to focus on the task at hand, tomorrow is the last evaluation before the genin exams and you have to focus to get a good score"

"Yes you are right" I admitted "I have to do my best tomorrow and I'll get nothing if I just stay here. I have to make him proud of me right?"

"That's the spirit" she said

…but I still remember that night in my dreams from time to time…

* * *

"That Kage Bunshin Jutsu…is a killer" Naruto-kun collapsed on my arms, fear ran through my veins

"FATHER!" I called in terror for someone's help, in matter of seconds he appeared behind me

"Hinata, what happened?" he asked taking him from my arms

"I...I don't know! He just appeared here all beaten up and fainted!" I explained

"His vitals are dropping fast" he said grimly "let's take him inside"

We ran inside the house and father put Naruto-kun down in the living room, then called for his physicians. I stayed at Naruto-kun's side. He was breathing very slowly and so lightly his breath was almost impossible to notice.

When the doctor came his face paled and refused to give Naruto-kun any treatment, but my father talked him into doing it. Even when I said I'd remain by Naruto-kun's side my father told me to wait outside the room and closed the door.

"He will be alright, nee, Habataku?" I asked her almost on the verge of tears

"He's very strong, but he tried a forbidden technique being too young. It will not be easy for him to get out of this one…" she said "but I trust him, and so should you"

"You are right" I said smiling

My father came out several minutes later, commanding me to go to bed; I said I couldn't sleep without knowing what happened to Naruto-kun, and surprising me, he allowed me to stay awake.

Two hours later the doctor came out with a tired look on his face "well, his condition has stabilized now, but he's still delicate"

"What happened to him doctor?" my father asked placing his hand on my shoulder

"I wish I could tell you" he said "I don't really see any dangerous injury on his body but he's terribly exhausted. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but despite everything he is recovering his stamina at a incredible rate and his body is reacting beyond any expectations to the healing treatment; his chakra system seems to be affected in some way…I'm no medic-nin, so I can't give you any diagnostic about it, but I'm not sure if any medic-nin in the village would check him out. I'll now take my leave" and as he walked away he seamed relieved to be away from our house

"Father" I said raising my head to see him "will Naruto-kun be ok?"

"Yes he will" he said "go to bed Hinata, I'll assign someone to look after him"

I walked slowly towards my bedroom looking back when I was at the stairs

"Good night Hinata" he said in a tone that sent me to bed

"Good night" I replied walking up the steps and entering my room. Crawling between the sheets I could only think on one thing: "this is her fault"

"What did you say?" asked Habataku

"It´s Midori-senpai's fault. Because of that technique, Naruto-kun is like this" I explained

"But she did told Naruto-kun that it was a risky technique and that he shouldn't try it alone"

"But he is stubborn! It's obvious he would try it" I said. How couldn't she know Naruto-kun well enough to imagine that he would do it anyway?

"Well she hasn't known Naruto-kun for more than a couple of days. There was no way for her to imagine he would do it when she said very strictly that he shouldn't try it on his own" she argued

"But we are just kids, and she tried to teach us a forbidden technique" at this comment Habataku released a sigh

"Try to sleep Hinata, you have to wake up early tomorrow. You have a training match with your sister, remember?"

"Alright" I yielded "good night"

But almost an hour passed before I could fell sleep

* * *

Yes, I was angry at Midori-senpai that night, and I can't remember any other moment in which I got angry towards any other person…now that I have accepted it, I feel sorry for what happened the following morning

* * *

It was very early in the morning, the sun was just coming up in the horizon and yet my family was already reunited at the dojo, for my sister had asked for a training match with me.

Hanabi and I were already head to head, waiting for my father's signal to begin. Neji was also there, watching us with his usual cold gaze. My father stood between the two, a few steps back; with a swift arm movement he commanded us to start.

Hanabi reacted first and threw a punch against me; however, her punch came at what I perceived like _slow-motion_, as such I dodged it without problem, and pressed forward, landing a blow on Hanabi's belly that caused her to lose her breath and fall to the floor on her knees, coughing and gasping for air

"That's enough" said my father "you are still young Hanabi, you need more training before you can stand against your sister" the four year old Hanabi looked at me with a mix of surprise and suppressed anger "well done Hinata, your training is showing its results, keep up the good work"

I tried hard to suppress the emotion and joy of being praised by my father and with a small bow I left the dojo to get ready for school, and it was then when she talked to me

"I'm impressed Hinata, even I couldn't have dodged that fast punch as well as you did" leaning on a wall was…

"Midori-senpai" my greeting was far from courteous

"How is he?" she asked

"You should know; you gave him that dangerous technique! What were you thinking senpai?" I asked her trying to be polite, she stared at me dumfounded

"Here I am being scolded and nagged around by a 7 year old Hinata-san"

"Senpai this is serious, Naruto-kun is in bed because he tried that Kage Bunshin you gave him"

"Well I guessed that he would be ok…considering Naruto-kun's special conditions" she said, almost as if to herself

"Special conditions?" I questioned her

"It doesn't matter; the point is that you are right"

"Yes I- wait w-what did you say senpai?" I replied not really sure if had heard correctly

"It's my fault. Naruto-kun's incident that's it. I was reckless... I assume complete responsibility of this"

"You'd better do…" I said lowering my head a little "if Naruto-kun dies…" my mind ran at great speed bringing me grim and sad images and the worst possible scenarios…

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" asked me a surprised Midori-senpai

"Yesterday a medic came and he said…"

* * *

I'm still sorry for giving her the news like that… although I was the one that received the surprises one after the other… smiling I left the picture of the boy back on the table and turned around to leave the room, but just as I was walking out I felt a presence and turned around.

Apparently nothing had happened, but the little water drops on the edge of the window were proof that someone had entered through it. Such silently movement could only be his doing.

I activated my Byakugan as silently as possible, without performing the hand seal, even if I knew that would take me a decent amount of chakra. Concentrating I explored all the room from the door. But I couldn't see anything; I took one step into the room when I felt his blade on my neck

"I guess I win, Hina-chan" he whispered into my ear. A chill rushed through my spine

* * *

Thats it for now! but dont worry i'll post the 2nd part soon enough

now the poll!

Who should be the jounin sensei?

1.- Kakashi

2.- Anko

3.- Midori

4.-Kurenai

5.-Ebisu

6.-OC

7.- Other (tell me who)

Tell me your answer in a review, if you can add a reason of why it would be better, but the number or the name alone is also ok.

Start voting! The voting ends until i post a chapter called "Jounin sensei"


	7. Memories on a Dark Night Part 2

Hi there! I'm back with the second part of the chapter!

Thank as usual Hikari no Okami for checking it

The voting goes as follow:

Midori: 1

Kakashi: 3

Kurenai: 3

Anko: 7

Ibiki: 1

(Hope I have the numbers correctly, is somewhat late and I'm a little tired :P)

Each line means a flashback, starting or finishing hope it isn't that messy.

Memories on a Dark Night. Part 2

A chill ran though my spine, but it was suddenly replaced by a melting sensation, my knees trembled lightly with the sound of his voice, and I could feel my cheeks getting hotter

"As settled: you are going to treat me to Ichiraku's tomorrow night" he said removing his _Ninja To_ of its threatening position and sheathing it. I turned around as soon as it was safe. Right in front of my happy form, there he was: smiling at me. "I've returned home Hina-chan"

I smiled at him blushing a little "Welcome home, Naruto-kun"

-Seven years before-

I ran upstairs as fast as I could, wanting so bad that what she told me…

'Please god! Please!' I prayed in my head, and opened the sliding door. I took a step in to the room, just to feel fear crawl up my mind when I found it empty. He wasn't in the bed

"Midori-senpai!" I cried at someone at the back, since Midori-sempai was running closely behind "Naruto-kun isn't here!"

"See? I told you he was alright!" she said

"What's with the ruckus?" asked Naruto-kun from the corridor; I peeked into the corridor to see him, he was in a Hyuuga robe returning to the room, apparently from the bathroom.

"Naruto-kun you are alright!" I said happily

"Well, I think so…I still feel an itchy sensation below my skin and no matter how hard I try I can't remove it" he said scratching himself on several parts of his body

"Hinata-san here thought you were going to die, Naruto-kun" said Midori-senpai with a smile

"Nah, little stuff like this won't stop the future Hokage. Right Hinata-chan?" he asked showing his toothy fox-like grin. I nodded happily "hey Midori-senpai, what are you doing here?" and suddenly I noticed that Midori-senpai was _INSIDE_ the Hyuuga haven

"H-how did you, managed to get into the house? I didn't hear anyone calling at the door"

"Well I sneaked in, obviously" she replied calmly "Hiashi-sama wouldn't let me enter that easily"

"But why are you here?" Naruto-kun asked her again

"I came to check how you were doing; actually, I came as fast as I heard that you broke my rules"

"Wh-" Naruto-kun tried to argue back but Midori-senpai talked again

"You did, or did not try that Kage Bunshin on your own even if I said not to do it alone?" Midori-senpai's voice was firm but showed no anger. Naruto-kun nodded "then why you tried it? We still have a lot of time; you only got Hinata-san and her family to worry about you"

Naruto-kun turned to see me and shame appeared in his face "I'm sorry I made you worry, Hinata-chan"

"It seems I overestimated your exceptional capacity this time Naruto-kun" Midori-senpai walked to him and put a hand on his head

"Maybe…but in the end I managed to perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

* * *

"How did you manage to sneak on me?" I asked Naruto-kun as we walked down to the living room

"Well placing a little genjutsu on some water drops on the edge of the window and showing my presence for a second I made you think that I had entered using your room's window, but actually I used the next room's.So when you were there focusing on looking for me in your room with your Byakugan I managed to sneak behind you, if you had been using the wide range of your blood line limit you would had found me without problem! I guess I simply got lucky this time, I had never managed to surprise you like this before"

As I listened impressed by his growth I could only recall how close he was of having to give up on the Shinobi life because of the incident on that night.

* * *

"What's the matter Naruto-kun?" asked Midori-senpai worried "Are you alright?" Naruto-kun had suddenly felt to his knees in pain as he tried to perform a Henge jutsu later on that day

"Na-naruto-kun what happened?" I asked to him

"I…Arg…I don't know…suddenly something burned me inside…as I tried to use some chakra" he said recovering his breath

"Uh-oh" said Midori-senpai kneeling in front of him "Naruto-kun come here please, let me check something" performing a long combination of hand seals the veins around her eyes marked in a similar way to the Byakugan and her eyes glowed slightly with chakra "this is worst than I expected" she said grimly

"I don't really like what you said" answered Naruto-kun

"What happened to Naruto-kun?" I asked worried

"The Kage Bunshin is a B-level forbidden technique for two reasons: Since the chakra of the ninja that performs the technique is distributed evenly among the created copies, shinobi must be very careful because he or she could leave the body with such a little amount of chakra, that the lack of it could even kill that person. And even worst, when a clone is destroyed, which only takes a single blow, the original person perceives the worst feeling in this world" Naruto-kun lowered his sight and his face was covered by a grim shadow

"W-what is the feeling?" I asked worried

"…You feel the dead of your clone" it was Naruto-kun who answered my question

"You mean…?" could it be? With 'the dead of your clone' was Naruto-kun talking feeling how it is to…die?

"when the clone is destroyed you perceive what it is to die, a horrible experience indeed. A lot of shinobi that get to perform this technique become so scared of death that they leave the ninja job and live the rest of their lives in terror" explained Midori-senpai

"Those shinobi were weak" said Naruto-kun "the feeling of dead…is not a burden…" said Naruto-kun

"…but a reason to keep leaving" completed Midori-senpai "I knew you'd say that"

"When I first created the shadow clone" began Naruto-kun "I thought that it was the best option for a spar, to fight you. However when it was destroyed by one of my hits the feeling that reached me wasn't one of pain…and yet it was very painful, I don't know how to describe it. I had to warn Hinata-chan about the jutsu…" I was hearing worried in silence "and this morning when I woke up I spent a good amount of time thinking about it, and finally made up my mind: I wouldn't be afraid of dead, I'd embrace that knowledge and use it to protect everyone, Hinata-chan, to protect Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji. I won't let them feel it, not in that way. They will die calmly, when they're old"

* * *

We were reaching the living room; surely she would be waiting there with her and Naruto-kun's luggage from their trip. After all Naruto-kun and I weren't even genin yet, it was logical to send a jounin along a in-training academy student if it was a training trip.

It was when we were turning on a corridor that he almost crashed into him, but luckily both him and Naruto-kun reacted swiftly, avoiding any problem with a little sidestep

"Naruto? When did you return?" asked my cousin, Neji-nii-san

"Sup Neji! I have just returned" said Naruto with one of his toothy grins "you just wait to see my techniques! I'm going to wipe the floor with you next time!"

"In the same way you did last time?" asked sarcastic Neji-nii-san, but with a light hearted tone

"You had to mention it right? Well doesn't matter! I Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage won't be defeated by you, Hyuuga Neji!"

If someone had told me that Naruto-kun and Neji-nii-san would befriend each other and have a good relationship like this one when they first met, I wouldn't havenbelieved a word

* * *

We were sitting in the council room; however it had no reunion this time. Except for Midori-senpai, Naruto-kun, my father and I the room was empty; Midori-senpai was explaining the situation to my father.

"Because of the use of that technique a large rush of powerful chakra rushed through his system and damaged it. If it had been in a more controlled situation or if he had been older and more experienced, this wouldn't have happened, but with the current situation…well, to put it simply, he is currently unable to use chakra"

"If he can't use chakra then his career as a ninja is over" said my father rather coldly

"There is still one possibility, Hiashi-sama" said Midori-senpai "The legendary Slug-Sanin, Tsunade"

"But no one has seen her in years" said my father

"I'm aware of that, Hiashi-sama" said Midori-senpai "While I'm away looking for her…" she leaned forward placing her hands in front and placing her head between them looking down, in a pleading position "I ask you to please look after Naruto-kun, I'll pay you his expenses if necessary"

"Wha-? I…Midori-senpai!" Naruto-kun stood up to argue but Midori-senpai told him to stay back

"Remain sited Naruto-kun" she said it in a firm voice, that demanded obedience, as if someone much older was talking and not just a girl a few years older than us. Apparently even my father was surprised by her voice

"I'll fulfill your request, and accept him under my roof, taking in consideration his…special condition and actual restrictions he shouldn't be a problem. You'll be charged with his expenses after you have returned, whatever you are successful or not"

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama. I'll take my leave now" she said raising her face and standing up

"Midori-senpai!" argued Naruto-kun I don't need to stay in Hinata-chan's house. My father raised an eyebrow at the '-chan' suffix "I can take care of myself"

"Now, now, Naruto-kun, don't be stubborn. You will be much safer in her and I'll return with someone that can heal you; just please wait for me…" with a small bow to my father and to us she left the room. Naruto-kun ran after her a second later. I did a bow to my father, which he returned and I followed Naruto-kun. He was right outside the room

"She's gone! How can she disappear just like that?" almost yelled Naruto-kun

"You are being too noisy" a voice came from the other side of the open corridor, both Naruto-kun and I turned around.

"Neji-nii-san" I greeted recognizing the voice

"-nii-san?" asked Naruto-kun "is he your brother?"

I negated with my head "He is my c-cousin, Neji"

"I see…" Naruto-kun analyzed Neji-nii-san as he walked the corridor toward us "Uzumaki Naru-" but he just passed away ignoring him, Naruto-kun followed him with his eye as he kept walking and hit my shoulder with his, pushing me out of his way

"Hey, teme!" Naruto-kun grabbed him by the wrist as he walked "Why did you do that to Hinata-chan?"

"Let go" said coldly Neji-nii-san

"Apologize to her" ordered Naruto-kun. In a swift movement Neji-nii-san turned around and slapped Naruto-kun's hand, freeing him. In an angry response Naruto-kun threw a punch against him, but he stopped it with his hand, without changing his serious expression. This only got Naruto-kun angrier. He threw a kick at his face, but Neji-nii-san stooped the leg and with two fingers hit Naruto-kun's knee; Naruto-kun cried in pain as he received the Jyuuken's hit, but Neji-nii-san continued with an opened palm strike against his belly, which forced Naruto-kun to gasp for air. With a twist my cousin landed a kick on Naruto-kun's face and send him flying towards the garden, finally crashing into a small pond.

"Naruto-kun!" I cried and ran to his side "are you alright?"

"I guess it's logical to think that the failure of the clan would befriend such weaklings" said Neji-nii-san, adding as much poison to the words as he possibly could. The door to the council room opened and my father stepped out

"That's enough, Neji" he said. Neji-nii-san looked at him coldly, and continued his way

* * *

We walked to the living room, to pick up Naruto-kun's luggage and take it to his room.

"I can't wait until tomorrow's test!" was cheering happily Naruto-kun "That Sasuke will have no other choice but to acknowledge that I'm a strong ninja!"

"I'm sure he will, you have trained very hard for this day" I said smiling, I was happy to have Naruto-kun back in the house. As we opened the sliding door to the living room a large bag crashed into Naruto-kun

"Hey, don't go leaving your stuff anywhere like that! Hiashi-san could get angry at me 'cause of that!" she said placing her hands on her waist, she was as strong and beautiful as ever "hey, hi Hinata! You look great!"

"Welcome home, Sora-nee-san" I greeted with a smile as Naruto-kun picked himself up from the floor. It was nice to have the whole family back in home

* * *

Two months after Midori-senpai had left the village to look for the legendary Tsunade Hime she returned, we all got very surprised to see a young beautiful lady walking into the Hyuuga mansion, her bright brown eyes, long blond hair tied in a pair of pigtails, and her very developed chest demanded respect and acknowledgement. Along with her came a younger girl of dark brown hair and eyes carrying a cute pig, which I later knew were named Shizune and Tonton

"Hello Naruto-kun, Hinata-san" said Midori-senpai smiling while walking into the house, her arm was broken, her head had bandages around it, and her body was full of bruises "I'm sorry it took so long, but I finally brought her here, let me introduce you the one and only Tsunade Hime-sama"

"That's enough of it" she said looking at me and Naruto-kun, yet suddenly her cold expression changed when he saw at Naruto-kun "I-impossible, what you said…it's true…he is really…?"

"Yes, TsunadeHime" said Midori-senpai "and I'm afraid you lose yet again" she said smiling. Tsunade Hime-sama smirked

"I guess you are right and I should feel bad for loosing at gambling again…but for this little one, I'm happy to lose" she said "Come here boy, let me check you up"

After Tsunade Hime-sama checked up Naruto-kun, she asked my father if she and her companion could stay in the house in order to treat Naruto-kun properly. My father said that it was an honor to accept her in the house and as such gave her the best spare room we had. It took her another two weeks to finally perform the operation on Naruto-kun, which was a success of course; as she said it herself she was Tsunade of the Sannin.

Right after the operation was finished she picked up her stuff and left the village saying she had no business with Konoha.

"Have a safe travel, and thank you so much again" said Midori-senpai to Tsunade Hime-sama as she was walking outside the village gates. Naruto-kun, my father, Midori-senpai and even the Hokage himself was there to say good bye to her!

"Hey! Why doesn't she heal Midori-senpai too?!" asked Naruto-kun

"The bargain was only to heal you, not her" explained Shizune "Besides, her wounds are only superficial, and they will heal with time"

"Bye bye, Tonton" I said waving good bye to the pink pig "Thank you for looking after Naruto-kun, Tsunade Hime-sama, Shizune-san"

"You make sure to keep an eye on that boy" told me Tsunade Hime-sama

"I can take care of myself!" argued Naruto-kun

"We were honored to have you staying with us, Tsunade-sama" Even after two weeks it was shocking to hear my father talking so respectfully to someone so young

"It was refreshing to see you, Tsunade" said Hokage-sama

"It was good to see you too, sensei. Although don't get used to it, I'm not planning on coming back…for a very long time at least" said Tsunade Hime-sama turning around to leave

"I remind you of the gamble we made, Tsunade-sama" said Midori-senpai

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll send word to _her, _but let me warn you, she will be harder to talk into this than I was…even for you, she's far from docile" she said Tsunade Hime-sama taking her first steps away

At first I hadn't understood what she was talking about. But a few weeks later I experienced my second 'vision'. Again, as in the first time, Midori-senpai was in it, but this time instead of a man in red clothes there was a young woman, probably. Her hair was red with black lines in it, she was wearing a red mini-skirt, long black leather clothes, a white sleeveless shirt that shown her bellybutton, which had a piercing in it; she was wearing black suspenders and over her shoulder was hanging a black leather jacket, which she was holding with one hand.

"So, you asked me to come all the way down here, what do you want?" asked the girl in a mean voice

"Sorry take you out of your mountain, Sora-san" apologized Midori-senpai "but it is a matter that we cannot talk about using letters sent by your hawks, I hope you understand"

"Down to the point already, what so important that you even when to the trouble of asking Obaa-chan to call me?" I wondered who this 'Obaa-chan' was

"You see, a few months ago I was careless and because of that a little boy was injured when practicing a Jutsu I taught him" explained Midori-senpai

"It's your responsibility to teach Jutsu only to those with the control and amount of chakra necessary to perform the technique correctly" scolded the woman called Sora-san

"I'm…aware of that" said Midori-senpai not mentioning she had said not to try the Jutsu on our own "however this incident showed me that the boy needed someone to look after him"

"Wait, wait, wait, you want ME to come down to the village of Konoha and babysit a boy?" asked Sora-san as if her ears would had deceived her "I think you're talking to the wrong girl, sister"

"Sora-san, I can't think of anyone else fitter for the job" defended Midori-senpai

"And just what makes you think I'll take the job, uh?" asked Sora-san

"Because I'm sure that's what your teacher would've wanted" explained Midori-senpai smiling

"You mean Obaa-chan?" questioned Sora-san raising an eyebrow

"Nope"

"You can't possibly mean…" Sora-san's eye widen in surprise.

At that moment the 'vision' had finished and I was leaning on my bed

"It's impolite to listen to other people's conversations, Hina-chan" scolded me Habataku, using again that nickname only my mother used

"I assure you I had no intention to peek, it just happened, I can't control it!" I explained

Noticing I was saying the truth Habataku explained to me that those 'visions' were her special ability, it was an ability called 'Farsight' which allowed to see and hear things that happened far away as long as the person using it knew the place or person she wanted to look at. From that moment on, I added practice to control the 'Farsight' ability, borrowed from Habataku, to my regular training.

The day after Midori-senpai, had talked with Sora-san both of them came to us and Sora-san introduced herself, and asked to talk with Naruto-kun

"Come on, Hinata-san" said Midori-senpai taking me away from Sora-san and Naruto-kun "let's give them some room to talk"

"Midori-senpai, who is that woman?" I asked curious

"Curiosity killed the cat Hinata-san, but I'll tell you she is the closer thing to a relative Naruto-kun has" she said smiling and before I could ask another question she put me to train

Naruto-kun and Sora-san had talked for hours and when they finally arrived at the house, it was late already

"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan!" Naruto-kun was calling for me happily from the door. I ran to his encounter "Hinata-chan!" he was extremely happy, I had never seen him like that "Hinata-chan I have awesome news!!"

"What is it Naruto-kun?" I asked

"Sora-nee-san here!" Sora-san grinned at me showing a 'v' with her fingers

"I see her, what's the matter?" I asked confused

"You see Hinata-chan, I've adopted Naruto-kun here…well more like we adopted each other actually" explained Sora-san

"So that means…" I asked surprised

"I have an older sister! Hinata-chan! I have a sister! I have a family!" explained Naruto-kun happily

"What is this ruckus?" my father came striding to the door "Hinata, I'm sure you know that you should not run inside the house, and Uzumaki-kun how many times have I told you not to yell when you are in the house?"

"Hiashi-san, is it?" asked Sora-san

"Yes?" my father examined her with his eyes and by his face I knew he didn't found her appealing in the least

"I'd like to have a word with you" and without another word Sora-san took away father

* * *

Somehow Sora-san managed to 'rent' from my father a pair of rooms for her and Naruto-kun. So, since that day Naruto-kun and Sora-nee-san have lived with us.

"How was the training trip?" I asked Sora-nee-san

"Well it was ok" she answered

"Ok?! Nee-san it was awesome!" argued Naruto-kun "Hina-chan just you wait 'till you see my new sword skills, they kick ass!"

"Hee, hee, you are always so energetic Naruto-kun. I'd be tired if I had just return from a training trip like you guys did" I said

"Nee, Hina-chan, did you receive any news from Midori-senpai?"

That was another surprise, three years ago Midori-senpai just said good bye to us and left the village…we haven't heard of her ever since…

* * *

Well that's it for tonight/today

Sorry if a lot of things seems weird…that's what Hinata know up to this point, but everything will be solved up later (as the why this or that thing happened)

Please remember the voting!

Who should be their jounin sensei?

1.- Kakashi

2.- Anko

3.- Midori

4.-Kurenai

5.-Ebisu

6.-OC

7.- Other (tell me who)

Tell me your answer in a review, if you can add a reason of why it would be better, but the number or the name alone is also ok.

Disclaimer: Sora isn't my character, I don't own her. She is intellectual property of "DameWren"

Read and Review please, so I can know if you like this twists or not: Naruto being healed by tsunade, living with hinata, and having a sister! R&R


	8. Last Academy Day

Im back with a new release!

The voting is almost over! the next chapter is the deadline!!

Anko is ruling in the voting so far!

But that doesn't mean that you can't bring your choice to the top! VOTE!

* * *

Last Academy Day

We woke up early the next morning. I walked to the bathroom and stood in front of the washstand, taking a look at the preteen that gazed back at me through the reflection. Her long dark blue hair, a little messy because of the night, reached bellow her shoulder; her large opalescent eyes shone brightly, and her pink lips curved into a small smile

"Good morning" I said to the girl

"Good morning Hina-chan" greeted Habataku "you are every happy today"

"Why shouldn't I? Naruto-kun is finally back! 3 weeks has been a long time without him" I said splashing some water into my face

"Yeah! I've missed you too Hina-chan!" I raised my gaze and saw him entering the bathroom "Who are u talking to, anyway?" I blushed. Did he listen to my small talk with Habataku?

"I-I-I-I-I'm o-only talking to m-m-myself" I said turning around swiftly, closing my eyes with a silly laughing, when I opened my eyes Naruto-kun was a few inches away from my face, my face grew hotter

"Hinata, I thought you had solved your stuttering already, what happened? That's the first time I hear you stutter in a while…unless…" he trailed

"…unless?" I dared to ask

"unless…something's wrong…you only stutter when something troubles you or you are nervous" he said with a grin "so…which is it, Hina-chaaaan?"

I had to think fast "I'm…um…nervous…because of the exam! Yes that's it!" it was the perfect excuse "the last ranking test today and the Gennin exam tomorrow!"

"Eh?!" he raised an eyebrow "But Hinata! You are even better than me, and that Taijutsu you use is awesome, with those flips and the jumps, you can't possibly be nervous!"

"Well, still, I get nervous" I said taking a step back putting some distance between our faces

"Don't worry Hina-chan! You'll kick ass as always!" said Naruto-kun giving me the thumbs up

"If you two don't hurry up I'm going to put you to run laps around Konoha" Sora-nee-san appeared at the door "I'll be waiting for you in 15 minutes at the courtyard, don't be late" she started to walk away "Good morning and, by the way, I like your pajamas Hinata, very sexy" with terror I looked down to see my outfit, apparently when Naruto-kun had entered the bathroom I accidently had splashed some water on my night t-shirt which was white, and with the water it had became translucent. (Beta note: The author is a perv ¬¬)



I could feel the blood rushing to my face…and Naruto-kun staring at me wasn't exactly helping, closing my eyes and trying fiercely not to pass out of shame I rushed to my room and locked the door

"Why didn't you told me?" I demanded to Habataku

"You want me to say the truth, or you want us to continue being friends?" she asked me innocently

"How many times have I told you that I will take my time with Naruto-kun?" I asked her "I don't need him to have a picture of my underwear through a wet shirt. That won't make him fall in love with me"

"But I could make him start thinking about you as a girl, and not just as his friend, Hina-chan" she calmly said

"Arg! Nevermind Habataku, I'm going to get dressed" I said a little pissed at her.

I walked to the wardrobe and took out my usual outfit: a light lavender dress with a cherry blossoms design in the bottom which I wore above a fishnet body suit, leg warmers also lavender in color, and my mother's jacket on top of the dress. I wore it opened in the front, Naruto-kun didn't like it with the zipper up, he said that I had to be a little more extrovert and that jacket covering my body wasn't exactly a good sign, Neji-nii-san had agreed so I guessed that if I wore it opened I would make them happy and still use my mother's memento. It was shooting two ducks with one kunai.

I combed my hair and tied it up in a pony tail at the base of my head, with a final check up at the mirror I walked out of my room. I wasn't Sakura, but at least it wasn't that bad, from certain angles I even thought I looked cute.

On my way outside I passed in front of the bathroom, the sound of water falling told me that someone was taking a shower, it was probably Naruto-kun, because he had gone to bed last night without taking a bath.

"I guess it's a shame there's a seal around the bathroom that stops the Byakugan, uh? Hinata?" Habataku asked me

"Drop it already" I said blushing yet again

"I've told you I know this technique that would help you bypass the seal and peep into the bathroom, yes?" she continued

"No, I won't peep on Naruto-kun while he's taking a bath; that would be rude" I said walking down the stairs



"Yes, yes, you'll wait until you are his wife to see him naked…if that ever happens…" she said lowly "five years Hina-chan, five years. In five years he hasn't asked you out even once"

"He takes me to have ramen from time to time!" I defended, although I knew those weren't exactly dates

"But that's because of that game you play, and only because you always win. Well, that's until yesterday, and honestly, that doesn't count" she replied "he's getting popular, a little more with each passing day…do you want some other girl to have him first?" she asked trailing of the words a little bit.

My mind rushed to show me images of Naruto-kun kissing some other girl like Sakura or Ino or Azumi…a deep pain fell on my heart

"Of course I don't!" I said almost yelling

"You…don't?" at the end of the stairs there was my father, looking at me with a surprised face

"Father! I…Good morning!" I said with a small reverence "I'm sorry for raising my voice, I was thinking out loud"

"Good morning Hinata. Please try to be more careful in the future; breakfast will be ready soon, make sure you, and the Uzumaki siblings, get there on time today"

"Yes, father"

"Very well, off you go, she's waiting for you outside" without another word he continued his way to the dojo, surely he was on his way to train with my sister.

I reached the gardens in time and met up with Sora-nee-san. Her outfit was the standard: Black leather boots above the knee, blood red mini skirt, purple silk blouse, and her black leather jacket on top, her hair was dyed electric blue with blonde stripes. She changed her hair color and style around every month

A few minutes later Naruto-kun came walking into the courtyard

"There you are! One minute more and I would have put you to run around Konoha!" she said almost yelling "now bring your lazy ass here!"

"Yeh, yeh, I hear ya, Nee-san" he was wearing his orange jacket with sheep in the inside, it always kind of reminded me of Kiba's jacket, but in orange; his brown pants with orange lines running on the sides, his black t-shirt showing bellow his opened jacket, and his goggles on his forehead, separating his cute face and his golden shinning hair. "Come on Nee-san, it's early in the morning and Hinata-chan and I have the end of the academy year around the corner. Can't we just skip the training these two days? Besides we've been training hard the last 5 years!"

"That's just one more reason not to skip a training lesson!" she said almost cheerily



"Ok, ok, ok! But, can we do it after the exam, ne? It's the same if we work out in the morning or in the afternoon, right?" Naruto-kun almost pleaded

"Fine" yielded Sora-nee-san "but when you return from the academy you will have to do all the exercises without complains, deal?"

"You bet!" said Naruto-kun happily "let's have breakfast early today Hinata!"

"Sure" I accepted smiling

"A race to the house?" he asked me

"You're on!" I said smiling, he answered with a smirk

"Ready, set, go!" with that Naruto-kun ran as fast as he could, and I stayed back, channeling chakra, preparing my taijutsu technique

"MOON JUMP!" I cried and suddenly I appeared at the door way, seconds before Naruto-kun got there

"Hey your teleportation's faster now!" he said surprised, before going to that 3 week training trip I could beat you on my feet alone but, your amazingly fast now!

"It's still too slow to use effectively in combat" I declared matter of factly

"It's still cooler that running and jumping around" he replied

"More tiring too" I reminded him

"Point taken, but in a life or death situation it could be a life savior or in a steal mission, going in and out without running could give you an edge"

"Point taken"

Dropping the discussion we entered the house and had our breakfast, Sora-nee-san, along with my father and Hanabi-imouto-san; joined us some minutes later. After finishing our meals we got prepared to go to our last day at the academy. We were walking through the village when Naruto-kun said:

"Nee, Hinata! I've got a great idea! A masterplan! The prank of all pranks! The perfect ending for my academy student period!" he said happily and excited

"What's in your mind Naruto-kun?" I knew he was up to no good

"No, no, I'll let it be a surprise, but trust me! It's HUGE!"

"Huge?" I asked him curious



"Yeah huge as...as the Hokage Mountain!" he said with his usual toothy grin

"As long you don't get yourself killed Naruto-kun"

"Don't worry, don't worry Hina-chan, its fail proof!" he said confidently

We arrived at the academy, the scenario was the same from a the last months…several of the younger students were hushing and gossiping around…over the years my ear and sight had developed incredibly…and even if they were talking in low voices I could hear them all perfectly

"Hey isn't that?" a girl said

"Yes he is! The Uzumaki boy" replied another

"You are right he's kind of cute, with his blonde hair and blue eyes!" said a third one

"I wonder why my dad told me to stay away from him…what a shame" said the first one again

"My daddy said the same to me…" the third girl admitted

"All our parents say the same….but that gives him that mystery aura around him!" the second said, I was close to having enough of the talk…I wish I could just not listen to them…but something new appeared that morning

"Hey look over there!" it was a boy this time, older than them…probably just a year bellow us

"The Hyuuga girl? She's way out of your possibilities!" said another boy…where they talking about me?!

"Why do you think so?" asked back the first

"Because she's crazy for me!" assured the other boy

"Yeah right" laughed his friend…were they really talking about…me? Nah, they could be…I'm sure another Hyuuga was at the academy and I didn't know… yes that HAD to be it

"Hinata?" asked me Naruto-kun "are you ok, you are all red! You didn't catch something over the night, did ya?" he asked me placing his hand over my forehead

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I'm ok, don't worry Naruto-kun!" I said taking a step back

We entered our class, everyone seemed so nervous, well everyone besides Sasuke of course, he always seems so calmed.

The tests for the ranking of our class included a written exam, shuriken practice, an endurance test, and finally a sparring between two people of our class to test for resourcefulness, taijutsu, ninjutsu, control, and witness.



The written exam wasn't that difficult, although Naruto-kun seemed to have a few problems with it…he's never been that good at written tests. The shuriken test consisted basically on landing as many hits in a row as possible; I got 45, Naruto-kun 56 but it was still little against the 100, which was the max score, that Sasuke achieved, but Ino which was the second best at shuriken got only 65 so ours wasn't that bad.

Finally the fights against each other had arrived; we were just about to begin the sort in order to select our opponents when Mizuki sensei arrived at the training ground

"Iruka-sensei!" he said appearing in a smoke cloud "You won't believe this!" he said

"What's the matter Mizuki-sensei?" he asked

"The Hokage Mountain! Someone painted graffiti all over it" he said, I was very surprised! Who in the world would do that?! Wait…Naruto-kun? Was this what he meant about something huge? Apparently Iruka-sensei had thought the same thing, because he turned around towards us

"Naruto, do you know something about this?" asked Iruka-sensei

"Me, sensei? I've been right here with Hina-chan all day long! I couldn't have done something like that, but the one who did it is a genius no doubt!" it was clear he was lying, but he had also said the truth: he had been with me all the day, so even if Iruka-sensei knew he was guilty he had no proof against him.

"Ok, each one of you will come to the front and take a little paper out of this box" he pointed a little box "each paper has a number in it, we will use them to select the pairs"

Each one of us passed and took out a little paper. I took out the number 3, Naruto-kun took out the number 16, and as such we waited until Iruka-sensei called our numbers.

I was the second to fight, I was paired with Magoro Oshikuru: he was the dead last of our generation, even so he wasn't exactly an easy prey. His best aspect was taijutsu, and he was decent enough using weapons, his specialty was the steel wires.

Both of us approached the center of the courtyard, everyone was watching us.

"You can beat him Hina-chan! Just be confident in your abilities!" cheered Naruto-kun

Oshikuru was a tall boy, very slim, he used dark grey clothes that covered all his body except for his head, his long pants, and gloves ensured that the steel wire wouldn't hurt his body; he used his dark hair very short, and his face was carved with several scars, no doubt he had been training trying to become stronger, but his most noticeable aspect was that he constantly ported a lot of wire around his legs, arms and chest that created an armor of some kind for him.

We fell into fighting positions and waited for Iruka-sensei to give us instructions.



"Well, this is not a fight to the death, so I'll stop it in the moment I consider it's prudent to do so. In the same fashion you are allowed only to use the special dull weapons we gave you, you can't use regular weapons that would endanger your opponent life, is it clear?" he said repeating the same thing he had said the last fight, both Oshikuru and I nodded "well then ready…fight!"

Oshikuru charged at preparing to punch me "I've been training hard for this day!" he took out a lightning scroll and placed in on his arm the wire around his hands was sparking, it was apparently charged up with electricity. In a swift movement I deflected his punch towards the ground, forcing him to discharge his electricity

"Get ready for a moon jump!"Advised Habataku, I knew it would slow my movements to prepare the chakra but even still I would follow the advice; with a rush movement forward and making use of his momentum and I threw Oshikuru into the air to buy me some time; however, he twisted in the air as I started channeling my chakra for my technique. He took out two shuriken and threw them at me; even if they were dull they could damp my movements if they were to hit me, so I took out a kunai and parried them. The moment Oshikuru landed on the ground he pointed his hand towards me and the wire that was rounded up on his hand and arm propelled towards me, menacing with tying me up. I was forced to move backwards, and fast, for the speed and length of the wire was greater than I expected, when he was close to catching me up I was ready for my technique

"MOON JUMP!" I disappeared and as calculated appeared behind Oshikuru, I charged forward to stop his movements with my Jyuuken, but the wire around his leg caught me by surprise and before I could react it was already around my body, locking my movements

"I got you! I got you!" Oshikuru cheered happily commanding the wire on his other hand and leg to tie me up. Focusing his chakra the wire started to charge up with electricity, which ran fast towards me, I had no other choice but to reach the small fan I was hiding up in my jacket and open it

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!" the force of the molded air chakra freed me from the wire, I charged forward planning to attack, but I realized the wire tied up around his body would impede any Jyuuken blow to affect him completely, and if I were to reckless to get close to him, he would catch me again. Thinking in no other option I controlled some water from the nearby school pond that was several yards behind Oshikuru and prepared three water needles and kept them in standby, waiting until I could make an opening, however I had to be fast since I could only hold the needles for few seconds.

Getting close to him I swung the fan and performed another technique "Fan the Flames Jutsu!" if his wire could conduct electricity they would conduct the heat of the flames too! The wind moved by my fan became flames and heated up Oshikuru's wire armor; he was forced to get rid of it unless he wanted to get burned and at that moment I commanded the water needles to stab his back, stopping his movements for a moment.



Completely tired with the chrakra usage I managed to tap Oshikuru's forehead and use my Jyuuken to tap a tenketsu that knocked him unconscious, but even if it lasted a few minutes it was enough to give me the victory

"That's enough, Hyuuga Hinata is the winner" declared Iruka-sensei, smiling I fell on my back completely tired

"GREAT!" Naruto-kun was next to me in a matter of seconds, but I was so tired that I lost consciousness. When I woke up Naruto-kun was by my side "You were great! I guess no one expected you to use ninjutsu so repeatedly! Everyone was so surprised! Even Sasuke and Ino were surprised about how you managed to keep those needles in the air! HELL! I'm amused you trained so hard these last three weeks!"

"But even so, I can't stand more than two or three minutes of battle in that intensity…my chakra and endurance aren't good enough" I said smiling sadly

"Hey hey, Midori-senpai already said it…there's a lot of time…you did better than most of us…Your ninjutsu is remarkable for a academy student, don't worry" said Naruto-kun smiling confidently

"Thanks" I said to him with my cheeks a little hot

"Stand up, you already missed two fights, Ino and Shika showed awesome ninjutsu…I guess they got jealous from your display" he said grinning toothily, that grin that reminds me of a cute little fox

"That's the first time I see Shika fight so seriously" said Sakura

"That lazy bum? He was super slow to finish his fight, your forehead is messing with your sight, Sakura?" said Ino. Some time from now they stopped being friends and start fighting over every little thing

"Shut up Ino-pig! You know that's the first time Shikamaru wins a fight and not just gives up right after starting!"

"Silence girls!" commanded Iruka-sensei "The next fight will be Haruno Sakura and Nakamura Azumi"

"GREAT ITS SAKURA-CHAN'S TURN!" cheered Naruto-kun "GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT SAKURA-CHAN! AZUMI YOU BETTER SHOW ME WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF!" as natural Naruto-kun was friendly to everyone…but it wasn't that simple with Azumi

"SHUT UP NARUTO!" yelled back Sakura

"Why do you treat him like that?" asked Azumi to Sakura. Azumi was a slim and thin girl, slightly taller than Naruto-kun, she always used a short kimono, white on the shoulders and dyed of purple from there to the end, going from pale on the uppermost part to deep on the bottom. She 

was the weapon master of our generation, second best in fighting skills, she used usually a Katana, but today she was wielding a wooden sword. Her hair was black and framed her face, slightly above her shoulder line and she had light blue eyes.

"The way I treat Naruto doesn't matter to you" she said very politely

"Of course it does!" Azumi was the first girl to give up on Sasuke and turn her sight to Naruto-kun, it was clear the she liked him "She likes you so very much and yet you only ignore him, make him feel bad, and follow after that cold, emotionless guy?"

"Why you-" started Sakura but Iruka-sensei interrupted her

"That's enough girls, you already know the rules; remember to only use dull weapons, if you draw keen tools you'll fail the year ok? On your guard, ready, fight!"

In a fast movement Azumi performed a Bunshin technique and replied into 8 copies all of them drawing her wooden sword and surrounded Sakura which answered Bunshin with Bunshin and attacked Azumi, but she was way faster and in three seconds destroyed all the illusions and put Sakura's neck to her sword

"That's enough!" said Iruka-sensei

"You are not worth of _his_ attention, and your crush will never care for you…he'll knock you out and leave you there if you ever get on his away…" Azumi said coldly, and walked to us "Hey guys! Did you saw me?"

"You did well Azumi" I said calmed

"You kick ass! What a blinding speed! I'm sure even Sasuke would have a hard time matching it!"

"Well thank you Naruto!" she giggled

"Silence please, the next fight will be between" he checked his notes "Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto"

* * *

Sooner than everyone expected!! WILL NARUTO BE ABLE TO DEFEAT SASUKE?

READ AND REVIEW! It lets me know what you like, dont like and it improves my work!


	9. Sasuke vs Naruto

I wasnt dead!!...i was working...

Seriously summer works sucks

--

Sasuke vs Naruto

Naruto-kun and Sasuke-san were looking at each other. They were waiting nothing else but Iruka-sensei's signal to begin.

"I've been waiting for this a long time!" Said Naruto-kun

"If you wanted to eat dirt u just had to tell me" replied Sasuke-san

"You wish Sasuke-teme! Today is the day! Today I, Uzumaki Naruto, Future Hokage, will defeat you!"

"You are a thousand years away from defeating me!" Sasuke-san said coldly

"We'll see that!" challenged Naruto-kun

"Ok, calm down you two. This is not a fight to the death, so calm down or you'll both fail this last exam" warned Iruka-sensei "Now, get ready" both of them raised their guards "begin"

If I had blinked I would've lost the beginning of the fight. As soon as Iruka-sensei had given the order to begin, both of them threw a shuriken at the other and they clashed in middle air. On that instant Naruto-kun disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke-san, but he managed to notice and attacked Naruto-kun before he could connect any attack. Sasuke-san threw a kick to Naruto-kun's face but he was able to stop it. It all happened in half a second.

Sasuke-san attacked with his other foot even if Naruto-kun had the other one in the air, but it worked because Naruto-kun was forced to let him go to avoid his kick. Both of them performed a few back flips to put some distance between the two.

"Not half bad, Naruto, but you still are not on my level" assured Sasuke-san "You are still 1000 years ago from defeating me"

"I'll show you the result from my training!" said Naruto-kun "I've been training with every fiber of myself!"

"Pff, 'Training'? You don't have the motivation to do so" assured Sasuke-san seriously "Once I thought you were the only one able to understand me. But now I can see that you are also a bastard whose life is completely pink… Living in a luxurious house with your sister"

"Hey what's your problem?" asked Naruto-kun "I train so I can become stronger and protect my loved ones!"

"You would never understand me. Listen to me carefully Naruto, by defeating you I'll proof that my reasons are stronger than yours!"

Sasuke-san rushed at an incredible speed against Naruto-kun. He tried to react and land one of his chakra charged attacks on Sasuke-san, but he was too fast and deflected the attack Naruto-kun 

had prepared. A large amount of chakra was released into the air from Naruto-kun's palm. Sasuke-san tried to punch Naruto-kun after that, but Naruto-kun turned around dodging his blow and landing an open palm strike on Sasuke-san's belly. Midori-sempai's and Sora-nee-chan's Taijutsu training were showing their fruits.

A large amount of chakra was released from Naruto-kun's palm into his belly and the Uchiha boy was send sliding on his feet backwards several yards. It was clear that that blow had been painful. Using the advantage of the moment, since Sasuke-san wouldn't react for a second Naruto-kun performed a cross shaped hand seal. He was going to use that already.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he cried creating two clones of himself, raising his number to three against one. The two clones rushed at the raven haired while he took out a shuriken and prepared his "Wind Edge no Jutsu" on it. I wondered if he would use that on Sasuke-san…a dull shuriken with that jutsu on could be dangerous; Iruka-sensei could stop the fight because of that.

One of the clones reached Sasuke-san and tried to punch him, but he stopped the punch easily and kicked the clone forcing him to disappear in a cloud of smoke. The next clone draw closer as the real Naruto-kun finished his jutsu.

Sasuke-san attacked the clone but it stopped the attack and tried a punch of his own but Sasuke-san stopped it with great mastery, which ended with them completely locked; neither of them giving an inch. Naruto-kun threw the shuriken at Sasuke-san, but the raven haired noticed this and used the clone as a shield stopping the attack and in a swift movement and attacked Naruto-kun from below, landing a kick on his chin, sending him flying a few feet from the ground, but he didn't finished there, he grabbed Naruto-kun by the ankle and began whirling and tossed him to the ground a few yards in front of him.

Naruto-kun had bruises all around him when he was standing up. Sasuke-san ran through several seal, and took air. I felt a terrible fear when I saw the tiger seal at the end: A fire technique, Sasuke-san was also using lethal force

"Katon: Gokakyou no Jutsu" he released a large ball of fire at Naruto-kun, which was barely standing up. The jutsu engulfed him, burning everything in its path, I activated my Byakugan and looked for Naruto-kun. He was there, in the middle of the fire, barely standing

"NARUTO!" called Iruka-sensei

"He's alright" I tried to calm him "he's using the 'Chakra Dispel Jutsu', he's fine for now"

"That's Kawamura Midori's technique!" recognized Iruka-sensei

"Yes she taught us that technique the last day we saw her" I explained

Finally Sasuke-san's technique finished, and he stopped blowing fire, apparently he knew Naruto-kun was alright because he rushed to the lingering flames with a flying kick. Naruto-kun was concentrating his chakra into his technique. It was a technique that effectively stopped another 

jutsu as long as the user was willing to sacrifice twice as much chakra as his opponent. It is an expensive technique, but one could save the life if used in the right moment.

As the remaining fire disappeared, Naruto-kun's figure was visible again; sadly he couldn't react to such a quick follow up attack and Sasuke-san's flying kick found its mark on Naruto-kun's face.

Clearly pissed, Naruto-kun grabbed a Kunai knife charged with Wind Edge and tried to stab Sasuke-san in a vertical cut, but Sasuke-san was too fast and jumped backwards in a swift movement, making Naruto-kun miss and stab the kunai on the ground. The poor weapon was unable to stand the stress of the hit and the chakra charged within it, thus it broke.

"I'm amused by how long you have lasted" said Sasuke-san "But you're still years away from defeating me" but even if he said so, he was panting. Still, Naruto-kun was by no means in better shape.

"I told you! I'm going to take you down Sasuke!" said Naruto-kun with a confident and serious voice. He marked several hand seals

"Stone Arm no Jutsu!" Several rocks rose from the ground and attached to his arm, effectively covering it completely; meanwhile Sasuke-san performed a technique on his own, shouting:

"BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he created 2 copies of himself and rushed at Naruto-kun.

Using his stone arm he hit one of the Sasuke-sans, passing through it and hitting the ground, the punch created a small crater and sent several small rocks into the air

"That's an extremely powerful technique!" said Iruka-sensei

"Yes, but Naruto-kun can't keep it for more than a minute or so, he wants to finish this quickly" I explained worried

The other two remaining Sasuke-sans attacked Naruto-kun, but in a swift movement he thrust a punch into one of the Sasuke-sans, passing through it. That left only a single Sasuke-san left, not losing a second he threw a shuriken at it, but it also passed through it.

Suddenly a smoke cloud appeared above Naruto-kun and Sasuke-san came out of it, landing a terrible kick on Naruto-kun's face, forcing him prone. Sasuke-san landed over him, placing a knee on his throat, choking him.

Naruto-kun threw a punch with his normal arm at him, knowing that a strike from his rock-powered arm could kill Sasuke-san at that distance if he weren't to stop it; however Sasuke-san stopped Naruto-kun's attack with his hand. Naruto-kun attacked again, this time with his leg. But Sasuke-san was able to stop it easily with his other hand. Naruto-kun had locked him! Both of Sasuke-san's hands were holding Naruto-kun's limbs and but Naruto-kun still had a leg he could use!



Naruto-kun attacked with his free leg, I was certain it would be a hit, however Sasuke-san's skill was beyond around expectations; he twisted a little and managed to stop the blow with his arm while still holding Naruto-kun's other leg with his hand.

I could see how Naruto-kun's face was turning blue! In his desperation Naruto-kun attacked with his rock-powered arm.

"DON'T!" I warned him, and as if by divine intervention Naruto-kun's 'Stone Arm no Jutsu' time ran out and the chakra stopped attaching the rocks to his hand. His punch found its mark on Sasuke-san's face, but Naruto-kun passed out from exhaustion and lack of air. Recognizing his victory Sasuke-san stood up quickly, letting Naruto-kun breath freely again.

I ran to Naruto-kun's side calling him, slowly after a few moments Naruto-kun slowly regain consciousness.

"Hinata?" he called opening his big, brilliant azure eyes

"I'm here Naruto-kun" I said

"Did…I lose?" he asked me

"You…fought very well" I chose not to tell him directly, but still he managed to get it

"So I lost after all" he said resigning

"Hey dobe!" Sasuke-san approached "Once a loser, ever a loser; you won't ever be able to match me, you are still 1000 years away from being able to consider yourself my equal" he said coldly walking away

"Someday" Naruto-kun whispered to me once Sasuke-san had walked far enough "Someday Hinata, I'll defeat him, and he'll have no other choice but to recognize me as a good shinobi" he said with sadness in his eyes, yet determination glimmered in his glance

"You will Naruto-kun…you will" I assured him

--

Thats it, i quit my job so i'll have more time to continue writing this story (and with some luck) resume my other stories...anyway!

Remember that we have a votation! And the end draws near for the next chapter will be:

"OUR JOUNIN SENSEI"!!

I hope u have enjoyed this one, please Read and Review, flames and annon reviews are allowed ;)

Dont forget to thank Hikari no Okami for being the beta reader of this chapter ;)

Until next time


	10. Beasts & Senseis Part1

Hey hey! This is the chapter that was going to be named Jounin Sensei, but I just liked this name better.

Several things before I let you read into the chapter.

-First. This isn't the complete chapter; however I'm going into a family trip tomorrow and couldn't left you guys without at least something to read. So you can expect the second part of this chapter very soon

-Second. Hikari no Okami, my usual beta, isn't in the city right now, so I was the beta for this chapter myself. As such it's probably terrible written, please bear with me, I'll ask her to beta this chapter officially and replace it ASAP

I think that's pretty much it, I hope you enjoyed

_Okami's note: Done, I revised the chapter, hope I didn't miss anything. You know readers, u can tell me if you read anything wrong._

Beasts and Senseis (Part 1)

Azumi quickly came running to where we were

"Naruto! Are you ok?!" she asked worried kneeling to help him stand; the two of us helped him to his feet

"Yeah, I'm ok; my pride is what was bruised the most" he said

"Then you are ok. Your pride is strong enough to stand this and much more" I said smiling, Naruto-kun answered with his own

"Yeah, I'll just have to train harder" he said confident "The Future Hokage can't be dampened by something like this right?"

"Very well done, Naruto" said Iruka-sensei walking towards us "Say…that was the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! It totally kicks ass, doesn't it?!" answered Naruto-kun joyful

"I guess. I don't know how you know a secret, forbidden, Jounin rank technique…" Naruto-kun smiled wide "However that proves that you didn't need to be at the Hokage Mountain to perform that Graffiti!" he said pointing the mountain; color suddenly left Naruto-kun's face "As such, you are going to be in detention cleaning your mess after class!"

"What? No! Wait Iruka-sensei!" he asked, but it was useless

"No pleading Naruto" said Iruka-sensei "Nothing you could say will save you from your punishment!" Iruka-sensei checked his notes and started to walk away "And don't you dare try to run away or I'm going to suspend you for so long that you won't be able to graduate until you are an old geezer!" with that he called the next pairs for their battles

* * *

Naruto-kun returned home very late that night, and Sora-nee-san was very upset because he had skipped training.

"Welcome home Little Brother" she said tapping her foot "why did you miss today's training?"

"I was with Iruka-sensei…he put me some extra exercises" he said tired

"Is that so? I had heard you were in detention FOR PAINTING GRAFFITI IN THE FREAKING HOKAGE MOUNTAIN!" she yelled at him

"Hey! It was a good plan!" He defended "If I hadn't used Kage Bunshin no Jutsu in my fight, no one would had guessed!"

"You see? That's your mistake! A ninja should be able to see beyond deception! You should be able to remind at least that!" she replied "If you are going to use a technique, make sure to use in such a way that no one recognizes it! If you wanted to paint the stupid mountain you should have used a Henge no Jutsu to turn into someone else and use him as scapegoat or something!"

Naruto-kun blinked

"Hey that's actually a good idea!" at that comment Sora-nee-san lost her patience and hit Naruto-kun in the head

"You are such an!! ARG! Go give 10 laps around the house, move it!" her face was so scary Naruto-kun didn't argue and left as fast as he could to do those laps

When Naruto-kun finished his laps he was completely tired, so much that he even said that he didn't want any dinner and went directly upstairs. I thought that he had gone to bed but I was wrong.

I left the dining table and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I opened the door and saw his clothes in there. I was about to yell "Sorry" and step out when a voice stopped me

"It's ok Hina-chan" it was Naruto-kun "I'm not naked, I have a towel on" he was at the bathtub, his head, chest and arms were resting on the sides, and although I could see his lower body he was wearing a towel under the water

"Why are you wearing a towel?" I asked "There's a seal around the bathroom that stops the Byakugan"

"Yeah I know, but still it doesn't really makes me feel completely safe you know?" she said giving me his toothy fox-grin, I didn't know if it was the heat of the hot water steam, his perfect azure eyes or his strong arms and chest but I suddenly felt my face grow hotter

"Ah, ano, I was here to, ah, brush my teeth so…I'm going to, um, do so ok?" I said, and even if I didn't stutter I hadn't sounded that secure either.

"Sure sure, be my guest" he said. Slowly and trying not to stare at him I walked to the washstand and took my toothbrush and tried to focus on my things. 'Brush my teeth, say good night, and walk out' I continuously repeated my plan in my head. But I found myself peeping at him as I wondered if he would allow Sakura or Azumi to be in the same room as him while he was taking a bath…and wondered if it was a good or bad thing for me that he would allow me to do so. Was it the fact that he trusted me enough what was letting him be with me half naked? Or was it that he considered me just as any other of his male friends? Maybe it was both?

I couldn't help my mind rushing to assumptions and conclusions as I sent roguish glances to him

"Say" I had to distract my mind with something "Was detention tiring?" I asked him

"Actually, not really, I just created a bunch of clones and we cleaned it up pretty fast. After that Iruka-sensei treated me to some ramen" he answered

"That explains why you didn't have diner…but why did you look so tired when you first came in?"

"Ah! That was actually to try to fool Nee-san and skip training all over" he said smiling "sadly it didn't work out" he finished with a hand behind his head

I finished brushing my teeth and prepared to walk out of the bathroom but I simply couldn't stop myself from being with him. I don't know what took over me as I walked to the tub and took a seat on the border, near his head

"You know" said Naruto-kun "Nee-san and I had this talk a few days ago"

"What did you two talked about?" I asked trying to hold myself from diving into tub with him

"Mostly about Sakura-chan" he replied simply, my hearted rushed "And after what happened today I'm kinda getting to understand what she said to me"

"Why? What did she told you?" I was curious now, what does Sora-nee-san told Naruto-kun about Sakura? Maybe she gave him council to ask her out?

"Well summarized she told me not to just like a girl 'cause her looks or her popularity and see pass that…" he said looking into the distance

"_A pretty woman is an accessory but a good woman is a treasure_" I said

"That's pretty philosophical Hina-chan!" he told me a little surprised

"My mother used to tell that to Hanabi-chan and me" I explained smiling to him "so you are going to move out of Sakura-chan and look for a good girl?"

"Well at least I'll try!" he laughed. I wondered: 'Does this mean that he's going to forget about Sakura and look at other girls?!' If that was true I had to do something…the early bird catches the worm Habataku says…without actually thinking about it and taking advantage of my position I pulled his head so that he could rest it on my legs and using all of my will I managed to say "I'm sure you will be able to find a perfect girl for you Naruto-kun" I was on the verge of passing away…how in the nine hells did I managed the courage to say that loud?! Especially with him half naked and having his head on my legs?! I closed my eyes not really wanting to see him, I'm sure my face was redder than a tomato! We stood like that for several seconds in complete utterly silence, until a sudden flash of light and the sound of a camera bought me back.

Standing in front of the door was Sora-nee-san with her photographic camera; one could say she is addicted to taking pictures of everything and everyone.

"I've got a nice shot of your blushing face" she simply said

"A PICTURE OF ME?!" Naruto-kun and I asked at the same time, we turned to see each other "A PICTURE OF YOU-?" we said at the same time again, my blush deepened and I could see his face totally red too "I MEAN-!" again we talked at the same time. We turned to see in different directions "GOOD NIGHT!" I almost yelled and left the room as fast as I could, I slammed the door of my room as I entered it locking myself inside. My heart was racing and pounding so hard I thought it was going to burst out of my chest, my breathing was forced and agitated: my chest moved up and down very fast

"Well, I'm surprised Hina-chan, who would think you were able to pull that move out?" asked Habataku "the idea of the head on your legs seemed to work out pretty well"

But I wasn't even listening to her…I could only think on his face blushing and his two big brilliant azure eyes looking at me

* * *

The next morning I was very silent, especially with Naruto-kun, I avoided talking to him as much as I could. I wasn't sure if it was because he was angry at me for running away like I did the last night but he understood pretty fast that I wasn't really in the mood to talk.

When we reached the academy I was still unable to talk to him. I was eager to talk, but somehow I couldn't manage to do so.

"Naruto! Hinata!" Azumi came running to us as we reached the front door "How are you guys doing this morning?" she greeted happily hanging herself to Naruto-kun's arm. She always does so.

"Hey" Naruto-kun's response wasn't that lively "We are fine, Azumi, fine" Azumi raised an eyebrow not really buying his answer

"And you Hinata?" she turned to me

"I…uh…mmm" I could manage to talk. If I said I was fine would Naruto-kun think I didn't care about what happened last night? But if I said another thing Azumi would surely worry and Naruto-kun could think that I was too worried about last night. I remained in silence thinking what kind of answer to give but nothing came to my mind "Does something happened between you two?" she asked

I had no idea of what do say. What happened last night could be considered as 'something'? Or it was simply a talk between friends? Well…No! I didn't want him to only consider it a talk between JUST friends! But would saying that be considered somewhat of a declaration?

"Don't worry about that" Naruto-kun simply said and started to walk with Azumi still holding his arm "We'll head up, ok Hina-chan?" asked me Naruto-kun, and I was simply able to nod. I felt so much like the way I was so many years ago. There I was, silent and still, watching the boy I liked so much walking away with another girl with him talking about the incoming exam

* * *

The exam to be a Gennin was actually pretty simple. Perform the Bunshin no Jutsu. It was simple, maybe too simple.

Iruka-sensei called each one of us to a separate room where we were examined by our teachers. Out of Azumi, Naruto-kun and I, I was the first one to be called.

I left the classroom where everyone waited until Iruka-sensei called us and entered the adjacent one, a somewhat smaller room but still large enough to give us plenty of room. It was mostly empty, except for a desk where Mizuki-sensei and Iruka-sensei were sitting: on it a large amount of blue head bands showing the Leaf symbol in a metallic plate rested, waiting for the graduated students

"Please come inside Hinata" said Iruka-sensei "How are you feeling? Nervous?" he asked nicely

"I…guess?" I didn't know what to answer, my mind was everywhere but at the exam, I could only think about Naruto-kun and Azumi being together and how much that thought pressed my chest

"The test is pretty simple Hinata" said Mizuki-sensei "We just want you to show us a Bunshin no Jutsu"

"Take your time, we are in no rush here" added Iruka-sensei and after that they both just sit there waiting for me. I simply concentrated some chakra and created 5 clones, I could had summoned more but I was confident that it was a fair number

"Very well Hinata!" said Iruka-sensei writing a few notes in some papers. He took one of the Head bands that rested next to him, offering it to me "Take this Hinata, it's the proof that you are a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. Congratulations" he finished smiling

I took the head band and tied it around my neck; I made a small bow and left the room. We couldn't go back to the room where we the rest were waiting, so I went to the yard, and waited on the swing of our tree

"What's the matter?" asked Habataku "You just graduated from the academy; you should be happy Hina-chan!"

"I know…" I said a little sad "It's just that I can't stop thinking about Naruto-kun and what he said and happened last night in the bathroom"

"Please, you just let him rest his head on your legs" she said

"More like forced him!" I corrected her

"He didn't complain!" she replied "Besides it's not like you let him touch you or something" I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks

"Don't say such things!" I scolded her "If I were to do that he'll really think I'm some kind of slut!"

"There's no need to raise your voice" she said calmly "I'm sure Naruto-kun would never think that of you"

"I don't know…I feel kind of down right now, I wish I could be able to say him directly how much I like him" I said before returning to my silence. I waited for Naruto-kun a long while before Azumi came to me asking if I had seen him, she seemed pretty agitated

"Hinata! Have you seen Naruto-kun?!" she asked with worried voice

"No, why?" I asked monosyllabic

"I heard that he failed the exam and didn't graduate!"

Even if my ears had heard that, I couldn't believe it.

"What?! That's not possible; he has his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" I argued

"I know! But Iruka-sensei said that himself! By some reason Naruto couldn't create a single clone!"

"That's terrible!" I said taking my hands to my mouth

"I'm looking for him but no one has seen him!" she explained to me "I was hoping you out of all people could help me"

I knew that with Naruto-kun's stealth he would be almost impossible to find if he didn't want us to do so, but still I had to try "I'll help you look for him!"

Azumi and I split up and looked for him until dusk, but had no luck. Depressed with our failure and worried about his whereabouts each one returned home.

When I reached my house I was too tired, too depressed, and too sad to listen to what my father had to say. I was sure it was some kind of boring speech about the clan honor. I simply informed him that I had approved the exam and that I was going to rest a little on my room. Luckily for me Sora-nee-san wasn't at home at the moment, I would hate to with herm the news about Naruto-kun.

I opened the door to my room and walked to the window to watch at the village sight at night before going into my bed. That's when I saw it: There was a note on my desk

"_Naruto-kun is in the woods to the south of the village, he's in grave danger"_ read the note, it had no signature

Before giving myself time to even think about it I jumped through the window and into the village once more. I hadn't advanced a lot on my way to the southern woods when I crashed into someone. I wasn't able to stop or change my course and therefore hit her head on, forcing her prone

"Azumi! I'm sorry!" I said apologizing to her

"Hinata, what's the matter?!" she asked me rubbing where she had fell

"Naruto-kun!" I said almost yelling "He's in danger, come with me!" without saying another word we jumped on our way to Naruto-kun. We covered the village in almost no time, reaching the southern woods very fast

"Hinata how do you know he's in danger?" asked Azumi when we were on the border of the woods

"I received a note saying he was in here and that he was in peril" I explained shortly

"A note? How can we trust a note?" I found the logic in her thinking quite right and yet I was still sure the note was authentic

"I don't know…but I'm sure that note is real…something just tells me it's!" I said confidently

"If you say so" replied Azumi not convinced by my answer "How do we find him?!" she questioned

"Give me a moment" I activated my Byakugan and started to look for them, after a couple of minutes I found something "That way! I can see three people 300 yards from here in that direction, two adults and a boy our age"

"That's surely Naruto!" Azumi said cheering

"Let's go!" I commanded and we both entered the woods at full speed

* * *

And that's the chapter…FOR NOW!

Again I'm sorry if the chapter was terribly written that why I usually have Okami with me :P

_Okami's note: I think he does a pretty nice job by himself, but still I polished this a little ittsy bit. Nothing big, really. Comments of any kind are accepted… and review! It makes me as happy as it makes Tohru, and that way I can bug him easily to write hehehe_

_By the way... THANKS to pink.love.rocks... who send me gratittude, I really, really appreciate that, this kinda late revision is for ya nn_

R&R


	11. Beasts & Senseis Part2

Hey guys and gals! I'm back with the last part of the chapter! This one is a GARGANTUAN 6K WORDS LONG!! That's right; this chapter is 4 times the usual length

As usual the beta for this chapter was Hikari no Okami

--

Beast and Senseis Part 2

Azumi and I ran into the woods as fast as we could. We covered the distance between those three figures and us in a few seconds.

We couldn't believe our eyes when we got there: Iruka-sensei was protecting Naruto-kun from a huge shuriken that was being wielded as a large blade by no other but Mizuki-sensei!

"Mizuki" said Iruka-sensei "Why are you doing this?"

"Hahahaha" laughed the other man "I'm tired of being nothing but a lowly Chunnin; however, with the secret scroll of forbidden techniques I'll be invincible!" that's when I noticed that Naruto-kun had a large scroll with him

"But! Mizuki-sensei!" demanded Naruto-kun "You told me that if I were to show Iruka-sensei a technique from this scroll, he would let me graduate!"

"Hahaha you are such an idiot _Demon_!" laughed the white haired man. "I just said so to make you steal the scroll for me!"

"Mizuki!" anger was evident in Iruka-sensei's voice "For you to misguide a student! Do you even consider yourself a professor?"

"A professor?! For that _monster_?!" asked Mizuki-sensei "Don't make me laugh!" and pushed his shuriken into Iruka-sensei's skin

"Naruto!" ordered Iruka-sensei "Run away! No matter what happens do not let Mizuki get that scroll!"

"But Iruka-sen-" tried to argue Naruto-kun

"JUST DO AS YOU'RE TOLD FOR ONCE, NARUTO!" Iruka-sensei's voice resounded in the whole forest

I was wondering what in the world was happening. Why was Mizuki-sensei fighting Iruka-sensei? What was Naruto-kun here? And why was Mizuki-sensei calling those terrible names? Were those directed at Naruto-kun?

Naruto-kun hesitated for a second before jumping into the woods taking the scroll with him

"Hinata" Azumi's voice brought me back to the bushes in where we were hidden "We have to attack"

"W-what?!" attack Mizuki-sensei?! "But why? What's going on?!"

"It's clear isn't it? Mizuki-sensei turned his loyalties and is planning on betraying Konoha!"

"That's not possible!" I said "Mizuki-sensei taught us how to fight!"

"Yes! But we are Konoha ninja now! Not merely students!" she said with determination in her glance "We have to stop him! I'm sure the two of us can do it!"

Iruka-sensei's scream of pain reaped the air of night. I dared peek and saw the large shuriken stabbed in his chest and nailing him to a tree behind him, rendering unable to move

"Now stay there while I look for that monster" said Mizuki-sensei

"Now!" whispered Azumi. Everything happened very fast. Azumi charged at Mizuki-sensei, who replied by throwing another of his giant shuriken at us, missing Azumi by less than an inch but going directly towards me, forcing me to dodge instead of charging with my classmate. Azumi attacked Mizuki-sensei with a kick, but the man was stronger, and more experienced; thus he blocked the kick easily. I rushed forward trying to make it up for my late attack

"Heh! Nakamura-san was it?" questioned Mizuki-sensei looking at Azumi "You have always been pretty good at fighting" he praised "but, do you really think an inexperienced gennin can defeat a mature chunnin like me?" With a swift movement the white haired kicked Azumi's support foot and tossed her away from him with the hand that had stopped her kick.

"Mizuki! Don't hurt them!" pleaded Iruka-sensei

I charged at Mixuki-sensei trying to land a couple of Jyuuken blows to immobilize him, but he had pushed Azumi away when he saw me coming at him to have both his hands free and now he had his attention totally on me. With ease he deflected all of my attacks and grappled me by the neck, rising me almost two feet over the ground

"And Hyuuga too!" an evil smirk formed in his lips

"Let her go!" Azumi charged again this time with her sword in her hands, but Mizuki didn't seem to care. As soon as Azumi was within his range he used me as a club to attack Azumi, who, not wanting to hurt me with her sword lowered it and thus eliminated her own defense. Not able to protect herself I slammed against her and the hit forced her to the ground, Mizuki locked her movements by placing a feet on her neck

"So…a couple of kids thought that they could defeat me?" questioned our ex-teacher "I've always been interested in you Nakamura, you have always been a great fighter, and you speed is as good as mine, not to mention that you are nicely developed for a 12 years old…" Mizuki got silent for a 

second "…But talking about developed girls" he turned to see me, choking by his grasp to my neck "I've always enjoyed being your teacher…maybe I should teach you some other things?" he said taking a kunai blade and prepared to rip open my dress

"Leave Hina-chan alone!" a barrage of shuriken came flying at Mizuki-sensei however he stopped them with the kunai blade

"Ah! Naruto_-kun_, so you are still here? And here I was thinking I had no choice but to use these girls as hostages and exchange them for the scroll, of course after playing with them a little"

Using Naruto-kun's distraction I focused a little chakra into my fingers and tapped a couple tenketsu on Mizuki-sensei's arm that made it numb, allowing me to break free. Landing on my feet I gasped for air and charged at the knee's tenketsu that were pinning Azumi, his footing failed him and Azumi was able to break free as well, also gasping for air; still, she wasn't able to stand up. With a grunt Mizuki-sensei charged at us with his kunai. I had to do something quick, Azumi wasn't able to defend, I had left all my ninja tools in my house since I was about to go to sleep and I was actually glad that I didn't put my pajama on! I just needed to buy a few seconds to take us out of there. I might have been out of my mind, but the only technique I could think of, was one of Naruto-kun's original techniques, channeling my chakra I performed the technique

"Oiroke no Jutsu!" I performed the specialized transformation; it was a little simpler for me than it was for Naruto-kun, I just focused on creating the image of an older me, enlarging my female features, removing my clothes from the illusion, I assumed a suggesting pose. The effect was instaneous, Mizuki-sensei got a nose bleed and stopped his attack. I grabbed Azumi and yelled "MOON JUMP" disappearing from there and appearing a few yards away, but completely hidden and out of sight, I wasn't able to teleport us further without concentrating more

"BITCH!" cried Mizuki-sensei "I'll find you and when I finish with you you'll beg me to kill you!"

"Naruto!" Iruka-sensei called "You should be away! Ru-" but Mizuki-sensei slapped him forcing him to be silent

"Shut up Iruka, or I'll push this shuriken deeper and torn some vital organs inside you!" He turned to the woods and took a couple of steps

I whispered to Azumi to stay there as I crawled slowly away, trying to flank Mizuki-sensei

"HEY! Demon!" Mizuki-sensei yelled out to the woods "I offer you an exchange for that scroll you have!"

"Don't accept Naruto! My life is not wort-" Mizuki-sensei pushed the shuriken further into Iruka sensei making him cough blood and shutting him

"It's mean to interrupt…No Demon, I'm not going to use a life for the exchange! That scroll poses information, so I offer information too! But rather than giving you information I'm doing this: If you give me that scroll I won't tell everybody your little secret!"

Secret? What secret could Naruto-kun have? Was Naruto-kun keeping a secret even from…me?

"Oh yes!" continued Mizuki-sensei "As I'm sure you know we adults all know your little secret! However I'm sure your sister told you that none of the kids your generation knows anything about it!"

A secret kept by adults? What could be so important that it was kept a secret for the whole village? What does Naruto-kun had to do with it? Was it the reason why everyone treated Naruto-kun badly?

"What do you say Demon? We make the deal? Or should I tell your classmates about you?"

Why does Mizuki-sensei kept calling Naruto-kun a demon? And what could this secret be that could even be considered a good enough trade for that scroll? Was it something so important for Naruto-kun? Several seconds passed and Naruto-kun didn't made a move

"Very well!" said Mizuki-sensei "So you're playing the brave one aren't you? HEY girls! Have you ever wondered why is Naruto hated so much?"

I activated my Byakugan and started to look for Naruto-kun

"Truth is" continued Mizuki-sensei "That everyone adores the 4th as the saver of the village: the man that killed the Kyuubi. But he never defeated the Fox, it was too strong and he was too weak to do so…as such he only managed to seal the beast"

I found Naruto-kun with my byakugan, he was hiding in a tree on the other side of Mizuki-sensei, he was holding to the scroll with his very soul, I read his lips…he was saying 'please', he looked very troubled.

"That's right!" continued Mizuki-sensei "Truth is, your Naruto isn't even human! He is the sealed Nine-Tailed Demon! He's the Kyuubi!"

What?! Naruto-kun…the Nine-Tailed Fox? It…fitted, he was hated by everyone, including my own father at the beginning…maybe even to this day he didn't liked him, that's why my father didn't want me near him to begin with. Why hasn't he told me?! I would have understood! I would…right?! We were friends! Why was he keeping that secret from me?! Something that important! Does this mean that he had no trust in me?

Tears rolled from Naruto-kun's eyes, he scratched the cover of the scroll with his nails, a silent scream formed in his lips: No

I didn't know what to do…it was clear by Naruto-kun's reaction that it was true, but what was the meaning of this? I didn't know what to think…

"I don't believe you!" Azumi's voice suddenly broke the silence created by Mizuki-sensei's declaration "Naruto-kun can't be a demon! He's a loving person that cares for those around him! He's hard working, never gives up and always gets his goals no matter how tired he is or how hard is the task! Naruto-kun is not what you think! You don't know Naruto-kun" Azumi charged at Mizuki-sensei one more time.

The fury in her blows was represented in more speed; she was also shocked by the news, troubled. But I could know if she believed it or not.

I had to do something, move, I couldn't stay there doing nothing. I advanced towards Iruka-sensei, I had to free him from that tree now that Azumi was distracting Mizuki-sensei.

"Hinata!" both relief and worry sounded in his voice "You shouldn't be here!" he whispered not to bring Mizuki-sensei's attention

With great care I pulled the shuriken from the tree and his body, luckily the blow wasn't deadly, but we had to treat it soon or the bleeding would surely kill him, he wasn't even able to walk on his own, let alone fighting.

Azumi was quickly losing ground at Mizuki-sensei "Stay here" I whispered to iruka-sensei and went to help Azumi.

Her quick sword strokes were easily deflected by his kunai, she was simply attacking straight forward, mostly by instinct than by thought. I had no water with me; my fan was in home with my other ninja tools, restricting my possibilities for water, air and fire style jutsus, but I still had one last resource.

I marked several seals "Sparking Grasp no Jutsu!" it was a small lightning type jutsu, not really used for damaging but for paralyzing the enemy, I longed to reach Mizuki-sensei in a fast and surprising attack, however apparently he was expecting that. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me in front of him, placing my hand on my back forcefully

"You girls will never defeat me, I taught you how to fight remember?" laughed Mizuki-sensei "Now Nakamura, drop that sword of yours, or I'll break her arm" Azumi made as commanded

I was furious I had come to help Naruto-kun but I simply kept getting in the way, I was being useless.

"That demon..Heh! I'm sure he ran away, let you here to die for him, so he could save his skin" said Mizuki-sensei with acid in his tone

"Yeah" Iruka-sensei said supporting himself with a tree "That's what demons do…however, Naruto is not a demon; he's a good student, a good friend, and a great ninja"

At that moment a large ball of water came from the woods in the direction that Naruto-kun was hiding. I recognized the technique as Naruto-kun's Water Cannon no Jutsu. Reacting quickly I channeled chakra to my feet and released it in a stomp on Mizuki-sensei's foot, pain forcing him to let me go, allowing me to dodge the attack that pushed him to the ground

"I won't let you hurt my precious people!" anger, pain, and shame could be seen in Naruto-kun's eyes at the same time as he stood out of the shadows

"Really? Let's see how you manage to protect them from this!" The white haired threw a large amount of shuriken at us, some aimed at Azumi, some at me and others at Iruka-sensei. With Azumi sword in the ground, Iruka-sensei hurt and I being completely unarmed, we couldn't protect against the attack, and Naruto-kun sure wouldn't be able defend us all, I prepared to endure the stabbing of the shuriken.

But the pain never came.

An orange flash of light shone for a second and the shuriken disappeared in the air

"I told you that you wouldn't hurt them!" Naruto-kun opened his hands and all the shuriken that Mixuki-sensei had thrown at us fell harmlessly to the ground

"What?! Impossible!" cursed our attacker

"Is that the best you can do?!" anger was clear in Naruto-kun's tone "Hit with your best shot loser! I'll pay it back a thousand times! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" All the forest was suddenly covered with Naruto-kuns

"NO! You weren't able to produce a single clone earlier today!" Mizuki-sensei tried to defend against a raging army of Naruto-kuns but he was direly outnumbered, within seconds he was plummeted so terribly that he couldn't even move

"Hina-chan, Iruka-sensei, Azumi-chan!" Naruto-kun turned towards us disappearing his clones "Are you alright?!"

"Yes, thanks to you" said Iruka-sensei

"I'm glad" sadness could be perceived in his eyes "I guess I should go now, I mean you already know about me…surely you don't want to be around me anymore" he dropped the scroll and turned around to leave, but I caught his jacket

"Why didn't you tell me?" I reproached "Didn't you trust me?" He turned back to see me, new tears started to form in his eyes

"I'm sorry…I was scared! Scared that you would see me like everybody else does. Scared to lose you, of going back to being alone" he said with his voice breaking. Then I understood, I had been selfish, thinking that it was his fault for not telling me, when it had really been my fault all along for not giving enough confidence to tell me. It had never been about my feelings, but about his. Pulling him to me I hugged him

"No, I'm sorry!" I said feeling warm tears rolling down my cheeks "But never worry, for you will never lose me. I know who and what you are, and I know you are neither a demon nor a monster" He tightened our hug; I could feel his tears on my own skin "Didn't you said to me once that you were tired of crying?" I half joked

"It's ok to cry when you are happy, it's ok to cry when you are happy" he repeated

--

"Mother god what happened to you two?!" asked Sora-nee-san when we arrived at home later that night "You both are totally covered in dirt! And hadn't you already gone to sleep Hinata?"

"Well…" I tried to come up with an excuse but she continued

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed, for a second I thought she had noticed something and would scold us "YOU BOTH HAVE YOUR KONOHA HEADBANDS!" it had been a very touching moment when Iruka-sensei had called Naruto-kun to go closer and close his eyes, and how he removed Naruto-kun goggles and the man tied his own Headband around the blue eyed forehead, claiming that he had graduated from the Academy.

Sora-nee-san hugged both of us each with one arm "CONGRATULATIONS! I guess that as a prize you won't get scolded this time, although I'll found out what you two were doing anyway" she said first winking and then rising a finger to point us in a somewhat incriminatory way "Now, go wash your faces and go to sleep before Hiashi-san appears" We started to walk upstairs when Sora-nee-san added "And each one in a different room!" she had always liked jokes, but even if I knew she didn't mean it I couldn't help feel the blood rushing to my face

--

Next day passed mostly peacefully. Besides our normal morning training with Sora-nee-san I had a nice and relaxed day, but apparently Naruto-kun wasn't that lucky. It all began when we were walking back from delivering our applications as ninjas to the Hokage, Sarutobi-sama. Naruto-kun had taken a picture of himself painted like a Kabuki actor, naturally he was asked to take the picture again; however, he used his infamous special Henge, the Oiroke no Jutsu, to convince the Hokage of accepting his application.

"You shouldn't have done that" I told him when we were walking back

"He's nothing but another perverted old man! That's exactly why I created that technique, to defeat pervs, you saw how well it worked out for you last night!" he said happily and proud

"Naruto-kun, do not said that out loud!" I said blushing; I was ashamed of using such a technique even in a desperate situation, if my father were to know about it...I didn't even wanted to imagine (Okami's note: I didn't say it in the moment… but Tohru's a perv. We all know he just wanted to see Hinata-chan do the jutsu ¬¬. Tohru's reply: Hey it is a deception technique that could have a lot more uses that the few showed in the series/manga)

--

"Ok, ok! But you were fantastic!" he continued cheering when we noticed something like a rock following us…just that this rock was completely square, like a wooden box, and had small peeping holes in it "Is that supposed to be a rock?" asked Naruto-kun

"Is anyone there?" I asked trying to sound friendly 'knocking' at the rock (cute)

"I'm surprised that you were able to find me!" the voice of a kid came out of the _rock_. He removed his disguise of sorts and appeared before us. He was somewhat short, very young, used a long scarf and a cloth hat of sorts "No doubt you are the girlfriend of the man who defeated my grandpa!"

"G-g-g-g-g-girlfriend?!" I could feel the blood rushing to my face

"You are that boy that tried to attack the Old man earlier today" said Naturo-kun recognizing him

"My name is Konohamaru!" he said vigorously, but Naruto-kun hit him in the head

"Don't go around town stalking people!" scolded him Naruto-kun

"What do you think you are doing? Do you have any idea of who am I? I'm the Grandson of the Sandaime!"

"Y-you are the venerable Grandson?!" Goodness Naruto-kun had hit the most important kid in the hidden village! I was about to apologize when…

"Like hell I'd care who you are!" said Naruto-kun "You can't spy on other people like that"

"Naruto-kun…" I said trying to calm him down

"I wouldn't mind being your subordinate" Konohamaru said "But you'll teach me the Oiroke no Jutsu to defeat my Grandpa!" determination shone in his eyes, he kind of remembered me of a much younger Naruto-kun

"Why don't you tutor him for a while?" I proposed giggling

"Are you sure Hina-chan?" he turned to face me surprised

"Please boss! Listen to your girlfriend!" pleaded the young boy making the blood that had just left my face rush to it again, warming my cheeks, I couldn't allow Naruto-kun to see me blushing this deeply, so I turned around giving him my back and said

"Yeah, Naruto-kun, listen to what _I_ say" I couldn't believe I was acting like if I were his girlfriend, surely Mizuki-sensei, knocked a few screws out of my head

"Wha-? You-? G-girlfriend?" Naruto-kun half stuttered

"I'll see you at home. MOON JUMP!" I added and disappeared from the alley we were walking

--

Naruto-kun entered the Hyuuga compound around dusk that night

"Hina-chan! That was mean!" he said taking a seat at the living room where I was preparing a medical ointment

"What was mean?" I asked acting as if I knew nothing

"Leaving me with Konohamaru there like that!" he said dropping indecorously on the sofa

"Be honest Naruto-kun, you had fun, didn't you?" I asked leaving my work for later and going to sit beside him, but still leaving enough distance between us

"Well, yeah, at least most of the time, we ran into a few problems…" he said rubbing his cheek a little as if by easing some pain

"Problems?" I questioned

"Yeah, his sensei appeared, he tried to fight me, claiming to be an 'Elite Jounin' or something" explained Naruto-kun

"Goodness! A jounin?! What happened?" if I had leaded Naruto-kun to a beating…

"Well he was nothing but a pervert, I defeated him quite easily" he said pretty calmed

"Defeated?! A jounin?!" how could this be?!

"Well he claimed that my Kage Bunshin wouldn't be enough to defeat him, and that he was stronger than Mizuki…But I am clever!" he said smiling "Actually you could say that you were my inspiration Hina-chan"

"M-m-me?" I could feel another blushing coming; I straighten up in my sit

"Yeah! After all you were the first to actually test that technique in battle!" I had an idea of where it was going "So I summoned an army of clones and made them do the Oiroke no Jutsu!" I had guessed as much "As such I created a new technique! Harem no jutsu!" he said proudly "The closet pervert got such a nose bleed that he passed out instantly!" he said smiling. It was until then that I noticed Sora-nee-san behind Naruto-kun. It was too late to warn him

"Sooooo" her voice showed controlled anger "you kept doing that nasty jutsu uh?" she cracked her knuckles. Color left Naruto-kun's face "GO RUN 10 LAPS AROUND THE HOUSE! AND YOU ARE LUCKY I LET YOU OFF THE HOOK YESTERDAY! IRUKA TOLD ME WHAT HAPPENED!"

--

"Well" Habataku said to me later that night in my room "Naruto-kun had his glance of action today and we can't be left behind, so, we'll train extra hard tonight"

"What's the point? I've never been able to use Farsight so far" I said

"Well, it's not like it's a technique of your own, you are borrowing it from me, that bounds it to be harder to master" she explained calmed

"But..."

"No buts Hyuuga Hinata" she said seriously "think positive and positive things will happen. Now concentrate"

With a sigh I did as I was told

"First synchronize with me as I taught you" I channeled some chakra and made it join with Habataku's "Good! Now, concentrate on one person or place, think on nothing else, visualize the image" I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. For a second I only saw blackness, and then several shapes appeared on my sight, the normal ones for when someone closes his or her eyes after staring at something brilliant. The shapes became clearer. I had only one thing in mind: Midori-sempai. What had been of her? Where was she? Was she alright? Why had she left without explaining something to us? Suddenly I could make out an object: a desk. Why was I seeing that desk? What made it visible? Suddenly a candle appeared. Good, what was on the desk? A long parchment of scroll appeared on top of it. Was there something written on it? Letters slowly appeared on the scroll as if someone was writing, but who? Suddenly a male figure appeared, this lightly depressed me, I wasn't looking at Midori-sempai as I was trying to, but still I tried to keep my focus. Who was this man? Green vest, bandages, a scar on his nose, a headband of Konoha on his forehead…It was Iruka-sensei. What was he doing there all by himself?

"Long time no see, Iruka-sensei" there was a voice, but I couldn't hear it clearly; still, it was good enough to be understood

"Who's there?" asked Iruka-sensei, his voice wasn't clear either

"Don't worry sensei; it is me, I have returned to join the ranks of the Konoha ninja"

"What are you doing here? After so many years?!" Iruka-sensei stood up from the desk

"I'm here because it's time. I heard that you were able to caught the traitor"

"You knew about-?"

"Mizuki? Yes, I was the one that frustrated Naruto-kun's attempts at creating a Bunshin to lure Mizuki into telling him about the Forbidden Scroll. Also, I was the one that send Hinata-san to your aid"

"You manipulated us?"

"More like machinated the scenario so that it would come out as expected; doesn't matter, I'm here to join Konoha's rooster. I'll take the exam if you want"

"That won't be necessary, nor possible, you'd need approbation from the Hokage himself to-"

"That's already taken care of already" suddenly a scroll flew towards the desk and Iruka-sensei caught it "that's an order to take any measures necessary to add me in the rank of the Shinobi, signed by Sarutobi-sama himself"

"Very well then I'll enlist yo-" the Chunnin took out a long list

"I have a request; otherwise I won't join the ranks of the Leaf Shinobi"

"What?! But you were the one tha-"

"The scroll says that no matter what measures are necessary you'll add me to the ranks of the Hidden Leaf. Don't worry it's something simple…" suddenly everything went black

I couldn't breathe, see, smell, feel, hear or taste anything; it was as if suddenly I had ceased to exist. Painfully a small light shone in front of me, in the middle of the light there was a woman, young, and probably beautiful. The shine impeded me to focus on her features

"That was a great advancement Hina-chan. You actually managed to use Farsight!" Again that voice I loved and hated so much at the same time. The voice my mother and Habataku share

"Still it wasn't as clear as the first time I accidentally used it" I said trying to grow accustomed to the shinning to see her features clearly: She had long dark hair

"But still you did well, you make me proud" she said, I guessed a blurred smile "It's already late for you to be awake" She was about to send me to bed, I could feel it, this was the first time I were to see Habataku I had to make her stay a little more so I could at least she her face…I…Had to knew if she was actually my mother, I had to think on something to make her stay a little longer, just enough for my eyes to get used to the shinning

"Can I ask you something, Habataku?"

"Sure Hina-chan anything you want as long as its quick, you have to go to bed"

"I know, it will be quick" I could mildly see her eyebrows and lips now, but still they weren't clear "Could you tell me…what happened to you? What brought you to the amulet?"

"Well…" her smile disappeared, I saw her eyes, they were pearl white: Byakugan eyes, she was a Hyuuga! "Let's say I sacrificed everything I had so that my husband could live" So that her husband could live?! NO HINATA! Focus! Her face! Nothing is more important than her face! "And thanks to you Hina-chan, I've been able to see him every day; I'm able to see that what I sacrificed gave him another chance, that it was not in vain…" See him every day? Was she really talking about my father?! FOCUS HINATA! HER FACE! She was young, beautiful…"Time to go to sleep now Hina-chan, sweet dreams" I blinked and suddenly I was at my room, lying on my bed. Sadly I never got to see her face completely clear but I was able to somewhat see her features. Swiftly I open the 

drawer of my desk and pulled out an old photograph of my mom. I had no doubts at seeing her smiling face, long dark hair that matched my color and her grey-white eyes. It had to be her

"Mom"

--

We were at the academy the next morning just reaching the classroom when we saw a huge commotion at the entrance. Naruto-kun and I walked closer to see what was happening

"Who is she? A girl asked

"I've never seen her before, but she is sitting inside our classroom" a boy, we managed to squeeze almost to the front now

"She's not part of our class she should leave" Ino

"Look! Sasuke-kun" Sakura. We finally got to the front

"Who are you?" asked Sasuke-san coldly walking closer to an older girl that was sitting on the front row of the classroom

"My! My! Sasuke-tan!" 'tan'? Who was so daring to use a 'small' suffix at Sasuke-san's name? Wait, I recognized that voice!

"Tan?!" asked Sasuke-san clearly angry "You have no idea of who you are talking to!" He attacked angered by the provocation with a keen Kunai; however, the girl grabbed his wrist almost too easily, and twisted it, forcing him to drop the weapon, again she made him twist, locking his hand to his back totally twisted "You move and I break it" I could hear her whispering to him "No Sasuke-tan, it is you who have no idea of who's in front of you. I thought you'd be stronger…You're by no means in _his _league" she made him turn to see her in the eyes, and suddenly her eyes turned red for a second, and the iris seemed like a three-pointed shuriken, but as fast as it had appeared it was gone "Now be a good boy and don't get in trouble" she finished releasing him

"Midori-sempai!" Naruto-kun went to greet the girl as soon as she let Sasuke-san go "What are you doing here?!"

"Naruto-kun! Hinata-san!" she said smiling at us and weaving "Long time no see guys!" She was wearing a short white tank top that showed her bellybutton, a dark green miniskirt with a horizontal red stripe on the lower part of it, pink warmers on her arms, black shorts under her skirt like the ones Sakura used and red wooden clog shoes. On her waist was a headband of Konoha Ninja and on the other side of her waist was a wakizashi in its scabbard "I'm glad to see that you both graduated as expected!"

"Of course!" said Naruto-kun

--

"I'm glad to hear that!" she said with a nice smile on her beautiful face. Her white hair, tied in two half-ponytails that faded into the rest of her shoulder-long hair, her large aqua eyes shone brightly and the little make up she was wearing was applied perfectly, she was a perfect lady.

"Where have you been Midori-sempai and why did you do that to Sasuke-san?" I asked her curious about both topics

"Well that boy came at me very impolitely, and when I called him by the name I used to call him he attacked me"

"You know Sasuke-teme?! Asked Naruto-kun almost dropping his jaw to the floor

"Yeah I do, he was very young by that age, and we only saw each other twice or thrice so I'm not that surprised he doesn't remembers me" she said making a silly gesture

"But that doesn't answers where have you been" I pressed the question

"Sadly, that'll have to wait, Iruka-sensei is already here" she said making us notice the tall scarred man that entered the classroom

"Sit down, sit down and be quiet" he said entering the room "Very well" he continued once we were all in our seats and silent "First of all, congratulations all of you for graduating from the ninja academy. To be here you had to pass several tests and some hardships, but the path before you is just starting. Right now you are Gennin, rookie ninja. From now on you will take on missions and polish your own skills and abilities. For this matter you will be separated in three-man units"

This was it…the moment of truth that would mark our lives forever; I had prayed every night since the day we knew about the teams that Naruto-kun and I would end up together. If were to be separated…I had no idea of what I would do, beg to the Hokage maybe. What if some girl like Azumi was in the same team as Naruto-kun while I was with some mean, bully teammate Like Ino or Sasuke-san?

"Don't worry" said Naruto-kun who was on the chair next to mine "they won't break a team as good as our!" he said placing his open hand on the desk, offering it to me, hesitating and blushing I took it

"Please as I name you raise your hands" said Iruka-sensei and started with the team formations Teams 1 and 2 were formed by people I had barely talked to, Team 3 included a girl I had work with when we were younger, team four was formed by three boys that made fun of me the first day of class because of my eyes. Finally it came "Team 5: Uzumaki Naruto" there it was! Naruto-kun's team! "Kawamura Midori" Midori-sempai was his teammate! He was so lucky! Only one slot free! Please let it be me!! Kami-sama! I squeezed Naruto-kun's hand and he squeezed mine "And Hyuuga Hinata"

"YES!!" Both Naruto-kun and I yelled happily raising our hands in the air, just to notice that we were still squeezing each other's hand. Blushing deeply both of us let go at the same time

"Please be quiet!" scolded us Iruka-sensei "Team 6…"

"We are together! We are together!" I whispered excited to Naruto-kun

"Told you so" he whispering back smirking

"Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Magoro Oshikuru, and Uchiha Sasuke" Sakura also stood up in her place happy when she heard Sasuke-san's name while Ino was slightly depressed. The pink haired actually turned around to stick her tongue out at the blond

"You are not in Sakura's team" I said to Naruto-kun "will you be ok?"

"Yeah, don't worry" he said calmed "maybe nee-san is right, she could not be the girl for me"

"Team 8: Aburame Shino, Nakamura Azumi, and Inuzuka Kiba"

"There goes Azumi-chan" said Naruto-kun

"I wish she enjoys her team" at least half as much as I enjoyed mine already

"Team 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji"

The following teams were formed by people I didn't know

--

One hour later only Team seven and us were waiting for our Jounin Sensei, Azumi and her team were under the tutelage of Kurenai-sensei, I had wished she would be our teacher since I like her a lot; she's like an older sister to me.

"The next teacher entering the room will be our teacher" said Midori-sempai "I'm almost sure of it"

"Why do you think so Sempai?" asked Naruto-kun before I could formulate the question myself

"Well, it's a feeling nothing more, I'm sure they will put Sasuke-tan under _his _authority. And he always comes late, so I'm confident in saying that we won't have to wait more than Sasuke-tan will. And don't call me Sempai anymore; we are all in the same rank now"

At that moment the door slammed open

--

And that's it! A lot of things happened in this chapter!! As such I'd like to know what you think about it, so please Read and Review! n.n


	12. Difficult exam

Yes that's right! The semester is over and we begin christmas holidays with an update!!!

For those of u still in time, college is a real pain, beware!

This chapter is twice as long as the usual to try and compensate for the long wait

Okami was, as usual, the beta for this chapter

I hope u guys enjoy, please! R&R!

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The extremely difficult 'Real Final Gennin Exam'!

The door slammed open; suddenly a large amount of purple smoke came into the room obscuring the vision in that area.

From the dark cloud four kunai blades flew towards the blackboard, a large sign was pinned with the blades. The sign, once in place, read:

"Team 5: Meet me on top of the Hokage Mountain in 3 minutes. Mitarashi Anko-sensei"

"Anko-sensei?" asked Naruto-kun repeating the name that was written

"Yeah!" a mature female voice came loudly from behind us sending a terrible shiver from my feet to my neck "You have a problem with my name?" How long had she been there? When did she get there?

I turned around to see her. She wasn't very tall (but for us 12 years olds she did seem tall), she was wearing a brown full body coat, unzipped; bellow she used a body fishnet and protection on her legs. Her hair was purple and short, and her eyes were keen and brown. She seemed battle forged and experienced

"So you three are team 5?" she asked pointing at Naruto-kun, Midori-sempai, and me "This might actually be interesting. Don't be late!" she said smiling, disappearing in a white smoke could.

"How are we going to reach the Hokage Mountain in just 3 minutes? Maybe if it were 5…" I asked worried "We have to run a lot to get there in time! And even then I'm not sure if we can get there fast enough" even if I could draw chakra for an hour I couldn't use my moon jump to get so far!

"Don't worry Hina-chan!" said Naruto-kun with a confident grin "I'll get us there in 2 minutes!" even if we were running over the rooftops 2 minutes was an impossible time

"Don't worry about me" said Midori-sempai "I can get there by myself, sadly I'm not strong enough to take you guys with me"

"Don't worry, I'll take Hina-chan there in no time" Suddenly Naruto-kun carried me bridal style "We'll see you there Midori-sempai" I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks "Get ready Hina-chan, this might feel weird"

That was his warning seconds before Naruto-kun's chakra started to flow from his body, adding pressure to the air around us. Naruto-kun jumped out from the window and into the village rooftops. An orange tone dyed lightly everything around us, and the world seemed stopped, frozen in time, and it was difficult to breath, the air was heavy and thick.

"How you holding up Hina-chan?" he asked me, but I could hardly breath, I was in no position to answer him… then I heard a voice, my own voice, in my head…

"Naruto-kun!" slowly the village faded away, I was pulled into darkness…had the blood in my head finally gotten the best of me?

I was immersed in utter darkness, but there was a loud noise around me

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto-kun's voice

"Naruto! Hinata!" Mitarashi-sensei's?

"You are no match for my speed" a new voice, I didn't recognize it, but sounded like a deep female voice

"HINATA!" a scream from Naruto-kun that ripped the darkness, pain and sorrow clear in his voice. I could finally see something, but I would have preferred to be left in darkness: Naruto-kun was carrying me bridal style, but he was crying. I was bleeding direly…what more, I wasn't moving!

Suddenly the image changed. Naruto-kun was kneeled on the ground heavily wounded, the place was covered in mist and somehow I knew we were in grave danger. The image didn't move, it was like looking at a picture. The image changed and I was looking at a masked figure in a mirror…was that my reflection? The image changed again back to the painful image of Naruto-kun wounded on the ground, unable to move, several senbon were stabbed into his body. A new barrage of senbon was flying towards him.

"Faster!" I could hear my voice "Faster!" the figure of Naruto-kun grew bigger, I was moving towards him "Faster please! Faster!"

Again the image changed, once again Naruto-kun was carrying me bridal style, my face was pale.

"Is this the first time someone precious to you dies?" that same cold deep female voice. Naruto-kun raised his crying face from my immobile body, his eyes were red and his pupils were slits, like an animal's.

"I'll destroy you!" his voice was deep and feral, full with hatred…the image faded away and I felt relieved. I couldn't see Naruto-kun like that…

"Please wake up" Naruto-kun was worried I knew it by his voice "Hina-chan!" Slowly I opened my eyes, I saw a blue sky, a shinning sun and the golden face of that boy: Naruto-kun "Are you ok, Hina-chan?" he asked me offering his hand to help me stand up

"Are you ok?" Mitarashi-sensei was looking at me with while eating some dango "I was worried when you got her unconscious..." the comment seemed for Naruto "even more when you didn't woke up" she said now looking at me.

"How long was I out?" I asked taking a hand to my forehead trying to ease the headache I was having

"Half an hour" replied Midori-sempai "Naruto-kun was very wor-"

"That doesn't matter!" cut her a blushing Naruto-kun "the important part is that she is ok now" a small smile appeared on his face...not his usual toothy grin nor a confident smile but rather a normal one, like that of a person who is rewarded in abundance

"Very well!" said Mitarashi-sensei "are you feeling ok? This first day is intended for Senseis and students to know each other a little, so if possible I'd like to get started with the introductions"

"Sensei! Let her rest!" asked Naruto-kun, but I was feeling all right now

"No, it's ok, I'm feeling ok now Mitarashi-sensei" I said getting on my feet, but sensei's face changed from her usual easygoing expression to a very serious one

"How did u call me?" she asked with a threatening tone

"M-m-m-m-mita-tarashi-sensei?" I asked scared

"A-N-K-O" she said slowly "If you guys have to add some honorific to my name 'san', or 'sensei' will be more than enough ok?" she said projecting a huge killing intent

"O-ok, Anko-sensei" I accepted

"Great!" she said with a cheerful voice again. She sat in front of us Indian style on the ground "Take a seat! Take a seat!" we did as she said "Very well, I don't actually feel like doing some new dynamic so I'll go with the ones I already know and which I'm sure that work" she said with a small smile "so! I want you to tell me your name, likes, dislikes and dreams. Why don't we start with you 'faint girl'?"

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata" I said after a few seconds of silence "I like cinnamon rolls, herbology, and above anything else I enjoy spending time with Naruto-kun. I dislike not living up to the expectations and giving up. My dream…is to enjoy a happy and fulfilled life" I couldn't admit just like that that I liked Naruto-kun; that disliked when people treated him badly and that my only dream has for him to be happy.

"A happy and fulfilled life can be obtained in several ways, it just depends on your effort and what are you looking for in life, but I'm sure that if you look forward and give your best at all times you will be able to live without regrets" said Anko-sensei, we all stayed in silence, impressed by the words of someone with clearly far more life experience "you could be happy with a dango stand! Very well" she continued causing us great shock! Admiration was pretty much gone. "Next, the other girl please"

"I'm Kawamura Midori, I like peace, helping others, and nature; I dislike war, conflict, and troubles; my dream is to create a world where everyone can smile without worries or sorrow, but I'm realistic and know that I can't create that Utopia so I'm happy just helping others"

This sounded even stranger than what I had said, why was Midori-sempai a ninja? A rather good one I had to add, if she didn't like conflict as she said? Shouldn't someone avoid the things he or she doesn't like? Or…was she like me? Someone who was born into a ninja clan forced to train, someone who had a tradition to follow? I wondered…

"Well" Anko-sensei's voice pulled me out of my thoughts "that's an utopia dream indeed, but I'm sure we would all benefit from it…even if we were unemployed as ninja and would be useless in such a world! The Grand Final, I already know Hinata and Midori, but I'm missing you 'Sunshine'"

"It's my turn! Finally! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like, besides being with Hina-chan of course, Ramen; I love to try and compare different kinds of ramen, I hate the 3 minutes I have to wait for the instant ramen to be ready, My dream is to become the most powerful Hokage ever so that the whole village will acknowledge me!" As expected Naruto-kun talked with bravery, energy, and conviction

"Hey! I like your style 'Sunshine'! So, Hokage huh? That's one big dream, second only to the Utopia our teammate Midori here just said…so you're willing to take on the hardships of becoming a Hokage?" Anko-sensei asked with a daring voice and a smirk

"You bet!" he replied with his usual confident and determined smile

"Very well! My name is Mitarashi Anko, I like sweets and desserts, I hate to be bored and bitter things, my dream is to eat the best dango in the world" up to this point Anko-sensei talked with great energy using the same daring voice, however "No, wait! I already had it; it was last year in the Rice country! I'll need a new dream…" she paused just for a moment and suddenly smirked "my dream will be to train you three into great ninja" these words raised my spirits, I felt almost as if a gigantic flame had ignited inside me "We'll begin tomorrow, meet me at Training Field #53 8 o'clock sharp, and by the way, don't have breakfast, unless you want something bad to happen" she smiled and disappeared into a white cloud of smoke

"I guess that means we are done for the day" said Midori-sempai "and although I'm sure you guys have tons of questions about my whereabouts these last years we'll have to wait a little more before we can catch up"

"Wait, Midori-sempai" I asked her, apparently she was going to leave quickly "a little while ago, when we were in the academy, your eyes-" but I was interrupted by her

"Don't let yourself be fooled by the simplest of Genjutsu Hinata-san, don't go making weird assumptions about me ok? That was only to make fun of Sasuke-tan" she winked her eye "see you tomorrow guys!" Without saying anything else she disappeared into a shadow

"And she's supposed to be a Gennin too?!" asked Naruto-kun "I'm nowhere close to do something like that!"

"Midori-sempai's specialty has always been ninjutsu" I recalled him

"Even so, she's mysterious! She was able to control Sasuke just like that"

"She made him lose his cool"

"Still that's mysterious; what you wanna do now? Wanna grab some ramen?"

"Ichiraku's?" I proposed smiling

"Of course!"

That day finished without us even noticing it, we had ramen at Ichiraku's, the old man that runs it with his daughter has always been very nice to both Naruto-kun and me. After lunch we went to our house to receive our usual treatment with Sora's training routine. For me, I had to add Habataku's training, it wasn't exactly a relaxing everyday's life, but this time it felt like nothing.

Next day came with a blinding mist and thin dew covered the courtyard, it was almost dark when I woke up, the sun wasn't even in sight, but its rays already showed in the horizon dying everything with a beautiful fan of colors orange and pink.

"Good morning Habataku" I greeted opening my eyes, watching the pendant that rested on my bedside table

"Good morning little one" she said, I could almost imagine her smiling

I walked to the bathroom and cleaned myself, returning to my room after that got changed and combed my long hair; I almost never used any makeup, although I had a small kit, birthday present from Naruto-kun. As usual my outfit was a light lavender dress with a flower pattern in the lowest part of it, with my mother's jacket over it, unzipped; warmers in my legs and the regular ninja sandals, all over a fishnet bodysuit.

I met up with Naruto-kun in the courtyard to receive Sora's morning training session. After that the family had breakfast, but we didn't had anything today, because we feared whatever repercussion would come, since we had Anko-sensei's warning from yesterday hanging on our memories.

At 7:30 we departed towards camping field 53, arriving 10 minutes before the hour. Midori-sempai was already there, she was reading a book.

"Hello guys!" she waved at us as we came walking "still sharing roof, yes?" she asked smiling, I blushed looking away "you look cute blushing" she continued giggling

"I-i-i-i-i-i-i" my stuttering was terrible, but just at that moment a mass of golden and scarlet passed in front of me

"You! Arrived early! Are you a morning person Midori-sempai?" was…Natuto-kun blushing too?

"Yes" Midori-sempai said "actually I am, and today I had nothing else to do but get here, so I have spent here almost an hour"

"W-what were you reading?" I asked trying to control myself

"Oh just something someone sent to me as a gift" she said closing a book that had a leather cover "actually, it's the same person that taught me that Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, although, I'm sure that by now you are better than me in that technique right?"

"I'll just say that you'll be surprised!" he said with a big smile

"I'm glad you are here earlier than told!" Anko-sensei appeared in a smoke cloud "this way we can have more fun" she had a fine smile in her lips, looking inside his coat she pulled out two lunch boxes "very well this will be a survival test, but with a twist" she placed both lunch boxes near a tree, inside a small bag "right now it's almost 8 o'clock, the time limit for this test is midday, this test is pretty simple, all you guys will have to do is land one hit on me, that's all, you can use any technique you may know or create on the moment, those that hit me can leave the exam and grab one of those lunch boxes"

'So, that's why she told us not to have any breakfast…' I thought with a sad smile

"Time out! Time out!" called Naruto-kun "but you there are only two lunch boxes and we are three!" Anko-sensei smiled

"You're very perceptive Sunshine" apparently she had liked yesterday's nickname; I really hoped she wouldn't call me 'faint girl' from now on! "that's because, only the first two who land a hit on me will pass this test and have lunch, the last one will be tied to a tree while we eat" she turned around and took a few steps before facing us again and she added "Oh! And those who fail to land at least one hit on me, and therefore fail the exam, will be sent back to the academy"

"W-what?" I asked surprised, but it sounded more like scared

"Each Jounin-sensei is to apply a test to his, her, assigned Genin team to see if they are fit as ninja, those who are not approved are sent back to the academy, and are given the opportunity to try again next year…however, most of them forever drop the ninja life"

Naruto-kun, Midori-sempai and I were completely in silence

Anko-sensei's smirk widened "Very well! The test starts…now!"

In less than a second Naruto-kun and I were no longer in the field with Anko-sensei, each one of us were hidden in the woods surrounding said field…I was completely terrified! If only two of us were going to pass the exam, then that meant Naruto-kun and I were 'enemies' in this test? Each one of us would have to see for ourselves.

"This is a mean test" said Midori-sempai loudly. She was still in the middle of the field! "You really enjoy playing with our minds, don't you?" her tone was defiant, Anko-sensei smirked denoted that she was uncomfortable with her words

"Looks like we have a cocky brat here, you think you can take me on?" she asked, changing her standing to face Midori-sempai in a three quarters angle

"That's not what I'm trying to do, let's just say I have an objective way larger than this; I won't be stopped by your test, Anko-sensei" her voice carried determination "we'll-" but she got interrupted because Anko-sensei disappeared from her position and reappeared behind Midori-sempai, holding a kunai against her neck

"Ninja don't live out of words, but out of actions" but just she said that Midori-sempai disappeared into the wind, a bunshin"

"Nice, Genjutsu uh?" praised Anko-sensei "but don't look down on us Jounin" she marked a few seals and suddenly the air was filled with green mist, slowly my legs and arms went numb

"Poison!" I cursed under my voice

Far away from Anko-sensei, Midori-sempai appeared, her genjutsu canceled

"Shoot!" she cursed trying to hold herself "I screwed up, I never expected such a long range attack"

"This will teach you not to be too full of yourself Midori-chan" said Anko-sensei, back to her usual cheerful tone getting closer to her

"Tsk! It doesn't matter, this only affects a little my plan" with difficulty Midori-sempai stood up and charged at Anko-sensei, and although Midori-sempai's movements were fluid and extremely fast, Anko-sensei stopped and defended from all of the attacks. They stood there, fighting several minutes; Midori-sempai threw everything she had, including ninjutsu from every element I knew, and yet she hadn't landed a single blow on Anko-sensei. In the end, from Anko-sensei's sleeve several snakes came out and managed to grapple and pin down Midori-sempai, rendering her unable to move

"I guess that's it" said Anko-sensei, "maybe I overdid it a little"

My body was numb from the poison, I could barely move, let alone fight, and even if I were able to it would be pointless, if Midori-sempai hadn't been able to do it, neither Naruto-kun nor I would stand a chance…

This was an impossible exam!

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And that's all for now! dont forget to leave a little review ^^

Beta's note: I was really, really out of it when I was checking the chapter (final exams and lack of sleep can get to you sometimes, ya know? nnU) I'd be delighted if you could point out any mistakes or weird grammar you find. C ya next time.


	13. Sink or Swim Together

Hello guys!

Happy 2009! I hope all your wishes may come true!

Here it is, the new chapter for White Hearth, I hope you enjoy it

As usually the beautiful Hikari no Okami was the one making the favor of checkig this chapter and making it understandable. Thanks Okami, we love you

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Swim or Sink Together!

The poison had been running through my veins for several minutes and my limbs felt stiffer and stiffer by the second. My eyelids felt extremely heavy and slowly the strength in my body was washed away… soon I would be unable to keep my eyes open and I'd be forced to the ground by the weight of my own body

'What a fearsome poison, luckily it's just to immobilize…this is a Jounin level technique, a real Jounin level attack. Just one attack, that's all she needed to put me out of combat, this is the real difference between our levels, the level of a mediocre plain genin girl and a beautiful and successful jounin woman. This is so frustrating!'

I fell to my knees and tried to endure it using my hands to stop a complete fall, but after a few seconds all of my resistance was overpowered by the poison. I knew that if I were to continue like this I would definitely fail the test, but I was unable to even keep my eyes open.

So I closed them.

Seconds later I felt someone's hands running through my clothes "don't worry Hina-chan, you'll be ok!" Naruto-kun voice came in a whisper warming me completely inside; well it was either that or the hot-feeling liquid that was moving inside my throat. The stiffness completely disappeared after a minute or so, and I was able to open my eyes as my strength came back. Naruto-kun was holding my head, my body was laid on the ground face up and I could see we were still in the forest

"Naruto-kun!" I was sincerely happy to see him, without thinking I almost jumped to him and threw my arms around his neck, just to realize a second later what I had done, just after I felt his cheek touching mine, as fast as I had approached, I moved away from him, assuming a traditional sitting position with my back slightly towards him and feeling my face was extremely hot

"I-I. Well. Thanks. For helping me. But you shouldn't have" I said fast, making stops every few words

"As a matter of fact Hina-chan, you helped yourself" he said, I turned slightly to see that he had a small vial in his hand "I'm glad you study that herbology , and even more that you know how to create an antivenom" his smile was sincere

"So that hot feeling inside me…?"

"I guess it was the antivenom" he replied

"But wait, how did you managed to come here? Weren't you affected by the poison?" I demanded

"Well 'the fox'" I perfectly understood this as 'the Kyuubi no Kitsune' "apparently grants me increased stamina, this seems to be reflected into faster regeneration and some resistance to poison, the venom did affect me but it was slower, that's how I was able to come here and help you, I already took a dose of antivenom myself" he said confidently

"I…Thank you Naruto-kun" I replied in whispers too "but you shouldn't have, we are not in the same team anymore"

"Wha?" his reply was a little too high and within the next few seconds a barrage of shuriken flew through the bushes we were hidden in, surely Anko-sensei had heard us. With swift movements we both managed to move from harm's way, yet we moved to hide into the same place

"Naruto-kun as much as this hurts me we can't help each other, only two of us three can pass this test" I explained to him

"say what?" his voice denoted surprise "that can't be right, we've been together a lot of time!"

"I know!" this was extremely hard "but as of right now things don't look good, I don't think we sh-"

"Naruto! Hinata!" Midori-sempai voice interrupted me "Don't let this thing get to you! Remember what I told you the very first day we met!" she was shouting, yelling at us, but not words of anger nor a scold, she was giving us council; always the Midori-sempai that would help us no matter the situation

"You see Hina-chan?" Naruto-kun resumed the talking "we have always been better when we worked together, there's no reason for us to change a strategy that has worked for us for three years, either we swim together or sink together" he spited in his hand and offered it for me to shake. With reluctance I took my hand to my mouth and placed some of my own drool into it, and gave his hand a shake…it was disgusting, but still to be sharing this boyish ritual with Naruto-kun made me happy

"Swim or sink together" I replied "but what about Midori-sempai?"

"She can join the perfect combination or be beaten by it" he said with a confident smile, as if he knew Midori-sempai would surely join

"O-ok" and that feeling made me regain my will

"Then let's Rock this test!" Naruto-kun made his trademark sign "Kagebunshin no Jutsu" and a little army of blonds gearing orange jackets charged through the woods and into the area where Anko-sensei and Midori-sempai were.

"A head on attack?" asked Anko-sensei when she saw a dozen Naruto-kuns charging at her "This won't take you anywhere" she assured

"Wind edge no Jutsu" all the blue eyed cried together taking a kunai out, and the air around said weapons materialized thanks to their chakra, sharpening it and making them longer, around the size of a short sword and empowering them enough to cut keen through a wall, Naruto-kun had mastered that technique

"Shadow Snake no Jutsu!" but Anko-sensei countered with one of her own, from her coat several snakes came out and stopped Naruto-kun's blades, receiving the stabs directly

Naruto-kun, along with his clones, growled. Leaving the stabbed knives into the dying snakes, he took a step behind and shouted "Salamander no Jutsu" while performing few seals, ending with the tiger one, the air that once sharpened the fierce kunai was now feeding a gigantic flame, created by the dozen or so ninja tools, the flame roared and consumed the snakes in an instant proceeding to advance through their charcoaled bodies towards Anko-sensei with dire speed, so that she was forced to jump away leaving the fire in the ground while she took the skies.

Naruto-kun was giving it all to Anko-sensei, and he was doing well; however, I knew he wouldn't be able to keep up that pace too long. Even if his stamina was something else, his chakra control and ability weren't that good yet to be able to continue using jutsus like that. It was up to me, even if I didn't like it, to give it my all as well if I wanted this to be over before Naruto-kun was too exhausted to move, which was not only terrible for the test, but also dangerous for him... I had never actually seen a chakra exhaustion case but I had read about them, and I had seen how bad could someone get if they overcharged their chakra system…I didn't want to see Naruto-kun as he was the day he learned Kage Bunshin!

With resolve based in the well-being of Naruto-kun and my own fears of seeing him injured, I joined the fray and began focusing chakra, ready to perform my taijutsu special move, the moon jump

"Windball no Jutsu!" marking a few more seals and pressing the air between his hands Naruto-kun created a chakra-molded sphere of tight air and threw it at Anko-sensei

"Don't underestimate me" said our teacher while she threw a single shuriken at the jutsu Naruto-kun had used against her, the little air ball hit the shuriken and although it was completely damaged the jutsu was not strong enough to continue its way towards the intended target "That jutsu had too little chakra placed into it Sunshine, it'd never hit me" affirmed Anko-sensei placing a foot on the ground. That's when I made my move

"Its intention wasn't to hit you" Midori-sempai had read the situation perfectly

"Moon Jump!" concentrating my chakra I moved at a extreme speed and appeared above Anko-sensei

"Naruto-kun's intention was to attract your attention so that you wouldn't notice Hinata-san until it was too late" informed Midori-sempai

I threw a barrage of kunai and shuriken at Anko-sensei but with blinding speed she took out a kunai of her own and deflected my attack, the ground around her was covered with my weapons…but I had already foreseen it. Actually, that attack was also a diversion.

"See underneath the underneath" said Midori-sempai, Naruto-kun and I always considered that to be her catch phrase… at least one of many, but she kept repeating she was only borrowing it from one of the best ninja she had ever seen or battled alongside

All the weapons I threw at Anko-sensei had steel wire attached to them; a little extra I added after my duel with Oshikuru, placing the ends of the wires between mi teeth I marked a few seals

"Grasping Fingers no Jutsu!"

Taking once more the steel wires in my hands the electricity of my technique ran along them, the close proximity and concentration of the static forces created arcs of lightning to jump between the wires, approaching at great speed towards Anko-sensei; little did I know it had been in vain.

"Earth Stomp no Jutsu!" Anko-sensei marked a few seals and hit the ground with her foot, creating a wave to run all around the ground close to her, tossing away everything in its path, including the weapons that had the steel wires attached to them.

The multiple weapons ended far away from each other, discharging the attack of my jutsu harmlessly. Landing on my feet I cursed silently

"Very Good 'Bright Eyes'!" praised Anko-sensei, "that was a very close attack! That could have gone very bad for me!"

"But it's not over yet!" Naruto-kun was not giving up "Stone Arm no Jutsu!" using a large concentration of chakra several rocks floated from the ground a moment before swiftly attaching themselves to Naruto-kun's Arm

He charged forward trying to hit Anko-sensei while his other clones readied shurikens. I wouldn't be left behind, so I took out my fan

But Naruto-kun's attack was too straight forward, and using the kunai she had already in her hand, Anko-sensei cut all the rocks that enveloped my teammate's arms after easily dodging his first punch. The jutsu was severely damaged: most of the rocks simply became sand due to the strength of the cut

The clones threw their shuriken and I used my technique "Wind Scythe Jutsu!" with a swing from my fan a few edges of wind flew towards our sensei but once again she was too fast. Taking Naruto-kun's arm she threw him at my jutsu "NO!" I screamed in terror seeing how the blades cut Naruto-kun's body, but a second after that it exploded lightly in a smoke cloud: it was a Kage bunshin.

As the energy of the remnants of his stone arm technique was released in a rush, the few stones still attached to him flew in all direction while Anko-sensei stepped away with a serpent-like gliding, the shuriken were stopped completely and the clones were hit by the rocks too. A lone blond stood on the field between the smokes created by the disappearance of his clones, a few bruises product of the rocks hitting his body showed fresh blood on his skin

"Just a few minutes since the test started and already so close" praised Anko-sensei "Yet so tired after so little…is this really all you guys got?"

Naruto-kun answered panting "Don't count on that…we are just getting started" he smirked but the sweat was running steadily down his face "Right, Hina-chan?" I knew that meant he was going to attack with all he got, and he was going to use his best: Taijutsu, preparing for that I activated my Jyuuken, the veins round by eyes remarked as I used a seal and cried out loud my bloodline technique's name, invoking its power.

Both Naruto-kun and I ran at Anko-sensei, he was going directly to the front while I took his left flank, both of us also making seals

"Water Cannon no Jutsu!" he performed his technique

"Fan the Flames no Jutsu!" closely followed by mine

His attack was a gigantic ball of chakra molded water from his mouth (I didn't liked that technique that much, even if it was from my main element, because I couldn't help thinking of it as a huge spit), my technique was a cone of flames that used the air moved from a swing of my fan as fuel and transportation.

His frontal attack and my area attack limited Anko-sensei's options of movement. She wouldn't move up if she could help it. If she was airborne it would leave her unable to fully defend herself from our techniques; on the other hand Naruto-kun's technique buckled movement forward and my technique used against her left side blocked all front, left and back. Even if the damage from my technique would be lower than receiving Naruto-kun's technique, Anko-sensei wouldn't risk passing through mine because that would entail at least some minor burning, therefore making me pass the test. Her only option was to go left to dodge our attacks.

And she did as expected to. I was ready for this and had prepared a little chakra to catch up, but Naruto-kun was faster, disappearing in a flash of orange he reappeared in front on Anko-sensei

"Sunshin?! No, this is no regular body flicker… it's different" our sensei acknowledged

"Surprised?" teased Naruto-kun "this is the technique I learned from the forbidden scroll!"

"It can't be…!"

"It's still far from perfect but this is the basics of the fourth's technique!"

"The Yellow Flash" said Anko-sensei under her voice "I'm impressed you're able not only to perform Kage Bunshin at your age Naruto-kun, but also such a powerful technique as that one" at that moment I performed my technique

"Moon Jump!" catching up with them and appearing behind Anko-sensei

"And not only Sunshine but Hinata has some tricks up her sleeve too!" smiled Anko-sensei "But will that be good enough to hit me?"

We both attacked with our best taijutsu Naruto-kun attacked with his fierce chakra charged punch while I used my flexible and mobile Lunar Style

Even while double teamed and flanked Anko-sensei proved to be more than capable enough to hold us both continuously deflecting our attacks while keeping in movement…however something was amiss

She was barely stopping our attacks, even her expression changed, she was completely concentrated on stopping us and for a second I didn't knew what was making us perform so well but after a few punches I understood it: We knew how she was going to defend, after watching Midori-sempai fight her and after throwing everything we had at her we were growing accustomed to her movements, to her defense, and could target the areas in which we knew she would have more problems defending. After seeing Naruto-kun's confident face I realized he had noticed this way before I did, even if only unconsciously

Suddenly Naruto-kun threw a punch at Anko-sensei which she was forced to stop by receiving it completely in her own arm…that couldn't be considered a direct hit, but it was close to it!

Anko-sensei was forced to slide on her feet backwards for a few yards due to the power of the attack, but the large concentration of chakra had left Naruto-kun completely empty. He fell on his knees exhausted but still conscious

"Hina-chan! NOW!" he yelled. I marked a few seals

"Water Serpent no Jutsu!" using the sweet on both Naruto-kun and I as the reagent I created several thin snakes of salt water that flew at Anko-sensei, this would be one of my last jutsus too, so I pulled almost all the chakra I had and used it not only multiply the water to the maximum I could, but also to make it as powerful I could

"Shit this could be bad" cursed Anko-sensei with good reason because now that her arm had been weakened by Naruto-kun's hit, it would be harder for her to defend properly from that side, the very angle I was targeting.

But harder doesn't mean she couldn't, after all she was a Jounin, the same as my father.

Our teacher took out a scroll with her other hand and yelled "Release!" and suddenly a barrage of senbon needles flew towards me, hitting my jutsu completely, stopping its advance, and still several of them were left flying towards me!

After using that chakra quantity in the technique I needed a few seconds before being able to do anything. I wouldn't be able to dodge the attack, and even if the damage would be probably not that deadly it would be enough to take me out of combat.

That was it the test for me, I had failed

…

But instead of the piercing metal sensation, what reached me was a large roar! The sound was huge, feral, fierce, intimidating even! The roar was a projection of chakra, so strong I was almost swept from my feet by the shockwave

Said shockwave was strong enough to stop the weapons that were flying towards me, which fell to the ground spinning out of control due to the force.

"Naruto-kun?" I asked turning my face to see my friend with his mouth half open, his canines slightly more noticeable than usual his eyes closed by the tiredness

"Raw chakra…" said Anko-sensei under her voice

"Don't get distracted!" Midori-sempai voice called us, but when I turned to see the snakes that had been keeping her imprisoned I noticed they were around a large wood doll. I shoot my face up and noticed Midori-sempai was standing upside down on a tree branch above us, she threw a small brown ball at Naruto-kun and it landed gently (WAY too gently for the speed at which it crossed the distance between the two) in his mouth. I heard her whispering voice as if she were standing beside Naruto-kun asking him to chew it, and I saw how his mandible moved upward almost as if pushed by some force other than his own. His eyes shoot opened burning with renewed strength.

"That was a soldier's pill!" reproached Anko-sensei at Midori-sempai like a kid that accuses a playmate of cheating

"Hey, don't look at me! I'm only the support here" replied the white haired girl with a smile, her wakizashi sword in one hand and her fan (small like mine) in her other hand

Whirling around, Anko-sensei threw a handful of kunai at sempai, but with a seal-less swing of her fan she said "Wind Wall no Jutsu" and the kunai were lost in the woods deflected by her technique

Using the distraction provided by Midori-sempai Naruto-kun threw himself at Anko-sensei in a head butt while I threw my last shuriken at her, but even in the last moments our sensei had such a fast reaction! She was raising her knee to hit Naruto-kun in the stomach and stop him that way while she moved her arm to stop my shuriken, I had seen my father stop my shuriken with his fingers while training with him when I was young, surely she was able to do it too!

After seeing Anko-sensei fight I knew she would be able to stop both my attack and Naruto-kun's!

But a sword landed behind her and she suddenly stopped her movements!

"Adaptable High-Jutsu! Nara Technique! Shadow Seal!" Midori-sempai shouted and that's when I noticed the wakizashi had landed in the ground exactly where Anko-sensei's shadow was projected by the morning sun

Even if Naruto-kun's head but wasn't that strong it found its mark on sensei's chest while my shuriken managed to scratch her arm

Midori-sempai jumped down from the tree, but she was also tired because once her feet touched the ground she fell on her butt

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" complained Anko-sensei "That was sharp! That counts as it…For sealing my movements, hitting me and cutting me you three pass the exam! Congratulations Team 5!"

I couldn't believe what I had just heard.

…

We did it! We really did! We passed!!

_Okami's note: Yo, it's been a while, ne? You know the drill, point out my mistakes, especially since this time around I was as beaten as team 5. Tired as hell, really, sigh. Hope you enjoy the chappie._

Autor's Notes: Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it

While I was waiting for Okami to finish betaing this chapter I was reading the reviews you guy have sent so far…it's like the 8th time I read them or so, I just really enjoy reading them

I'd like to thank you all Darksmile, Kitsoa, Fanonanime2006, unclejoex3, aiko-sayury, magic8, dgfriendly, .lover., ichi-sama, moonfire-fox, justwriter2, cute in purple, .rocks, dastek, silentstinger, chewie cookies, and all the others! (You guys are just too many xDDD can't write all the names, would take me a whole chapter!)

So in this chapter I'll answer a few of your doubts and your comments

1st than all Naruto couldn't defeat Sasuke in the first match of the fanfic (because yes they will fight a few more times) whats the point on having Sasuke as a rival if he was able to defeat him in the academy? Besides, Sasuke is still the best of his generation, Naruto is better than in the original storyline but he isnt beyong genin level, nor is Hinata. Im going to use Sasuke as a objective for Naruto, a step on the road to Hokage, but don't worry Sasuke will have to face defeat soon

2nd I'm glad you guys are able to cope so far with Sora-nee-san, she's cool, even if her entrance to the story seemed somewhat forced, her appearance will be explained at it's own time, mean while I'll try to present more of her for those of you who didn't read Dame Wren's work as she who created her

3rd Midori is not an Uchiha, nor a Nara, she is a Kagamura, that is, a Character of my Own. In the following chapters the mysteries about her will be explained little by little, but everything will be understood soon I promise, trust me, I have a shock waiting for you once all of Habataku's and Midori's secrets are revealed

4th On the next or so chapter I'll give a decent explanation about Hinata's and Naruto's taijutsu so that you could understand a little more clearly their style, so will be explained the Adaptable High-Jutsu Midori used in this chapter

5th Now the review button is a large, long, green, thingie, on the end of the chapter, there for you to do click on it and tell me what you thing about my story. What you like, what you don't like, what makes you laugh, what makes you cry, what makes you go "Awwww" and what makes you want to kill me, please go there and write a review, this way I can write a batter story that you all would enjoy and so that I could improve what little skill I posses, Annonimous reviews and flames are allowed, so what are you waiting for? =DDD


	14. Mission

Hey guys! Here is the new chapter! Arriving with ultra fast delivery and being more than double length for nearly a thousand words.

Before going into the chapter I want to say that I'm very sad. Nearly a hundred hits and not even a single review arrived from last chapter? That was mean!

This chapter Beta was Hikari no Okami as usual

Enjoy

* * *

Mission

Naruto-kun and I arrived late at night that evening. Anko-sensei had insisted on going to celebrate our success on the test and took us to a nice restaurant. Even though all she bought was sweets for everyone, and in large quantities, Midori-sempai and I ate only a little bit, since too much calories wouldn't be that good for us, but Anko-sensei and Naruto-kun enjoyed the day eating without remorse.

"What a cool day!" cheered Naruto-kun as we arrived to the outer gates of the Hyuuga Haven, holding a hand to his belly which looked a little larger after all the eating.

Sora-nee-san met us at the entrance of the house.

"Congratulations" she greeted us with a nice smile, she was leaning on the door with her arms crossed over her chest "I never doubted you guys would pass this exam, after all, what was the point in all that training we did if you didn't pass, right?"

"Good Night, Sora-nee-san" I greeted her too

"Sup, Onee-chan" greeted Naruto-kun with a large v formed with his index and middle finger

Something caught my eye on the verge of my vision, so I turned around to see it better

Resting on our usual training spot on the were two machines, which apparently were created to inflict pain to the poor souls who were to use them…what was that doing here?

"Ano, Sora-nee-san…those things over there…" I asked her

"OH! Those? Nevermind those" she said with a large smile

"What are you planning to do with that?" asked Naruto-kun taking a look at the torture machines; his face was a little pale

"WAS planning, in past tense, those were just in case…" she answered

"In c-case of what?" I dared to asked, although, I had an idea of the answer

"Weeellllll…we would be using them in today's training if you were to come without good results!" she said a little too cheeky "but as I see you passed the test, no training today as prize!...because you did pass, didn't you?" her usual happy face turned and twisted into a scary one and she projected a gigantic killing intent. I thanked god we had passed and didn't have to face her in her killing mode!

"YES! WE PASSED!" both Naruto-kun and I screamed in terror

"Good! Good!" as fast as the killing intent had appeared it disappeared "Now go to take a bath and go to sleep, you can take turns for the bath if you want, but make it quickly ok? It's almost time to go to bed"

"H-hai"

"You can take a bath first Hina-chan" offered Naruto-kun "I know you don't like being dirty that much, I can cope with it" he gave me his usual grin

"Arigatou" I was truly grateful for I was starting to feel especially dirty and sweaty from the huge day we had.

I started to walk towards the bath when Sora-nee-san stopped me.

"By the way, Hinata" she called me "you father said that he wanted to talk to you after you cleaned yourself."

An audience with my father! I sure was happy to bring him good news! If it was otherwise I would leave the fire country and hide as a missing nin all my life for all I cared!

I thanked her and entered the bathroom, removed my clothes and placed them along the others which would be washed the next day. I let the water run to fill the tub while I started to wash my body, I looked at it, I had a few bruises here and there because of the fight, but nothing serious, they would all but disappear in a few days. That was very good, it wouldn't be nice if those battle marks where to remain forever.

Even if I wasn't that good as a ninja my body didn't have scars on it, at least not yet. I thought that I should be proud of that even if my figure couldn't match that of Ino nor Sakura. I recalled my fight with Oshikuru, his body was covered on scars, it was normal though, scars where the marks of a ninja; Iruka-sensei had a large scar on his face, my father had a few on his arms, I had seen them once during training, I've heard that all the Hokages are usually covered in scars from their battles too, and that not even Kunoichi, which are usually less involved in combat, were completely free of scars, but in case of necessity or vanity they covered them with genjutsu and make-up.

I wondered, did my mother have any scars on her body? Would I too have a body full of scars? Would Naruto-kun like me even if I were to be covered in battle-scars? He almost doesn't see me the way I am now; surely with a mutilated body my chances were even lower

"Habataku" I called

"Yes, Little One?" she answered me

"Can I ask you a question?" I took a large bucket of water and threw it over me

"Sure thing, you can ask me anything" I waited a pair of seconds before asking in a serious voice that carried a lot of sadness as well.

"Am I pretty?" for a few more seconds she didn't answer.

"Can you please close your eyes for a second?" she pleaded

"But can you please answ-" I said very quickly

"Yes I will, please, just close your eyes for a minute? And no matter what don't open them"

I did as she told me. With a little reluctance I closed my eyes

Suddenly I felt a warm body hugging me from behind, it was nice and I felt safe between those delicate arms

"Hina-chan, you are both lovely and gorgeous" Habataku's voice whispered on my ear "why do you doubt it?"

"Because…I know Ino and Sakura are prettier than I am" I said with the same voice I used before. Even I hadn't noticed I felt this way about the issue.

"Oh child, don't think like that" she told me "you are still blooming, there is a lot of potential in you, both as a shinobi and as a woman, I have faith in you, and you should have it too"

"I don't know" I replied with my eyes still closed "both Naruto-kun and Midori-sempai performed way better that I did today. If Naruto-kun hadn't helped me I would have been defeated by Anko-sensei's first move, and everything I did didn't help at all; if Midori-sempai hadn't got her, sensei would have stopped my attack and I would have failed!"

"But it didn't happen and luckily for us Midori was there, she already explained it today, the gennin teams are three man units so that they can help and support each other"

"But Naruto-kun would be better off with some useful teammates like Ino, or Azumi, they would be at the level of the team" I could feel tears forming on my eyes, I felt so much frustration

"But they are not his team mates!" scolded me Habakatu in a harsh voice, but after that she hugged me tighter "you are. Hyuuga Hinata is Uzumaki Naruto's teammate. If you feel that you are weak for this team then the answer is clear, you have to become stronger. Don't worry, you're just a rookie now, there's no need to be so pressed by it, but if you want we can train harder each night, practice more taijutsu, and I could teach you even some ninjutsu, sounds good?"

"O-ok" I agreed

"Now, don't worry, you will be both beautiful and skilled, a suited teammate for Naruto-kun and also, with a little more effort, a suitable wife worth of a Hokage" she gave me a parental kiss on the cheek, and I could feel how my face felt hotter because of her words.

I opened my eyes slowly "Thank you, Habataku" 'Thanks mom'

"Anytime you need it child" I could almost imagine her smile, while I wondered if the way she said child meant 'my child'

Without more delay I finished my bath and put on my pajamas, just to walk to my father's office, he stayed there until very late in the night, so I was confident I would find him there.

I walked all the way in outmust silence, even my footsteps were inaudible for me; however, I knew I had no chance to surprise my father, as soon as I was a few steps away from the door he commanded:

"Come in, Hinata"

I slid the door and stepped inside my father's office, closing the door behind me.

The office was big, traditional like the rest of the house, but elegant; it was in the second story of the building, but it had its own entrance from the outside. The large windows looked into the yard and into a small garden with a pond and a cherry tree.

"Good Night, Father" I said to him bowing in respect

"I'm proud of how much your sttutering has decresed" he said still checking a few scrolls and documents he had over his long ebon desk "please take a sit"

At least he had started with an apraise, I just hopped it wouldn't be the last one tonight

"Thank you" I said hesitant while going closer to his western style desk

We spent almost ten seconds in silence, until the door to my father's office opened, to reveal a maid from the secondary branch carrying a plate with two cups and a tea pot. She approached as a shadow, silent and almost unnoticeable, and poured the tea into the cups leaving the items in front of us, over the desk.

As soon as the maid left making a reverence, my father left his papers, took one of the cups and took a sip, closing his eyes. Some seconds passed and he opened them again to put the cup on the desk looking at me; I could almost feel as if his eyes could see into my very soul, read my mind even, it was an unpleasant sensation

"By the ruckus created by Sora-san some minutes ago, I dare to think congratulation is in order"

'Sora-nee-san was loud, I would agree on that father, but she did not make any ruck-' then my train of thought hit the breaks, had he just said 'congratulation'?

"F-father?"

"For passing each and every test, and becoming a Ninja of Konoha" he explained "you have made me proud"

I was completely speechless

"Maybe it was a mistake to drop your training and send you to the Ninja academy, then again maybe it was the best choice" by the expression he had I could tell he wasn't talking about some lack of abilities, he was talking about some other factor that had to do with the academy. And I thought that factor was a certain boy.

"Go to bed Hinata, I'm sure you are tired and a long day awaits you tomorrow"

In complete silence I stood up, made a reverence and left the office, closing the door with utmost care.

"I think so too, father" I said to the empty corridor once I was on my way to my bedroom "going to the academy was the best thing that could ever happen to me, because I got to meet _him_"

I walked towards my bedroom founding Naruto-kun as he was coming out of the bathroom, fully dressed in his pajamas, with his cute night hat on his head. He smiled as soon as he saw me

"Hey Hin-" but he stopped "something wrong?"

"I-I'll become stronger" I said with a deep bow "I'll be worthy"

"Oi, Hina-chan, whats the matter?" he asked me

"I understand I'm not that useful as a member of team 5 right now, you guys would be better with a stronger ninja, maybe Azumi, or Ino or someone like that, but I won't give up, I…I'll become good enough to be part of the team! I'll prove my worth" I swore

"Hina-chan" he said seriously "you'll always be worthy to me, you are the most important part of the team for me, with out you I wouldn't like team 5"

"I didn't perform that good today, but I'll get better, I promise" I said as determinated as I could, Naruto-kun replied with his own determinated smile

"Then I'll become stronger too" he raised his hand, his palm facing me. I raised my own hand and high fived him "it's a promise"

"y-yes" I smiled, and with a small friendly reverence I said "good night Naruto-kun"

"Good night, Hina-chan"

I arrived at my room without any other stop, and sighed to myself

"I've said that much…now I can't go back on my word" I said to myself

"Very well!" said Habataku "then let's train, harder than before, come on, let's check first how you do with Farsight before moving to new stuff, how does that sounds?"

"Ok" I accepted

"Then focus Hinata, show me what you can do"

I closed my eyes and focused, thinking in only one thing, Anko-sensei, after some minutes of focusing in the darkness sound and images finally started to become clear

"Very well" I was looking into a large chamber, lit by torches, several ninja were in the large room, in front of them all was the Hokage "thanks for your reports Jounins who have now genin teams under their charge" said the Hokage "the number of passing students is high this year"

In front of all the other Jounin were Kurenai-san, Asuma-san (Kurenai-san's friend which I met once), a silver haired jounin that used a mask on his lower face and used his headband to cover one of his eyes, and lastly Anko sensei

"4 genin teams, team 5, team 7, team 8, and team 10 will, starting tomorrow, take on missions. Dismissed" said the Hokague

"Hokage-sama, I need a word with you" asked Anko-sensei

"Sure, come here Anko" invited the Hokague giving a few hits to his pipe thus cleaning it from the burned tobaco, at very same time Anko-sensei and the Hokage moved a little further from the group that was leaving "what's the matter?"

"I was wondering if team 5"

"Your team" added the Hokage

"Yes that's right" she agreed "I was wondering if it was made as balanced as all the other genin teams"

"Why do you consider it is created in some other way?"

"Look at this" Anko-sensei folded her jacket to reveal a band tied to her arm where Naruto-kun had attacked her "this was done to me by one of my students, I talked to the people in the medic wing, a little more and it would be broken"

"Was it Naruto's doing?"

"Yes, the boy threw a punch that carrried a huge amount of chakra, each one of his blows release a little amount of raw chakra that make the hits stronger, besides he can perform kage bunshin to create a little army of clones, and also move faster than most and use ninjutsu from a lot of elements. But that's not all, Hyuuga Hinata is amazing too, her taijutsu is amazing but its nothing like what I've heard of the Jyuuken. Her style is more flexible, fast, agile, graceful; when she fights is more like as if she was dancing than attacking or defending, I've never seen someone fight in such an elegant way at such a young age; her ninjutsu is pretty good now, several elements as well and can use sunshin as I've never seen before. And lastly is Kagamura Midori, she is extremely capable and she is definitely not genin level, she can use ninjutsu from each and all elements, and also can read the situations and adapt better to the situation. She attacked me so the other two would know my fighting style, while Naruto-kun directed the team to work together, he and Hinata create an amazing team I had to pull several tricks to be able to hold em"

"What are you trying to say Anko?" asked directly the Hokage

"My team is stronger than a regular genin team, I'm sure they could past at least half the chunnin exam right now with little problem, I mean, they passed the test in 12.3423 minutes. That's on the rank of the Gennin teams of figures like Kakashi or Itachi"

"I understand what you say Anko, and there is a…"

Feeling tired from the usage of the technique slowly everything become blurry again and I had to stop the technique opening my eyes to my room

"Well today's was clearer than the last time we tried isn't it?" said Habataku "very good Hinata, I guess we'll just need to work on stamina and control for a little while until you are able to hold the technique for longer, go to bed"

"But I want to train now" I explained

"Don't worry; we'll train. The faster you fall asleep, the faster we can begin; just, for tonight, don't remove the necklace, please"

Following her instructions I got between the sheets and slowly fell asleep

* * *

Before I could notice I was inside the family dojo, dressed with my usual cloths.

"What's going on?" I asked to myself

"We are inside your mind" said…my voice? A girl entered the dojo. I couldn't believe what was before my very own eyes

"Why? You are…me?" I asked the girl. She was wearing my family traditional training outfit, my mother's jacket zipped up over it, and her hair was short, in a duck tail style like the one I used to wear.

"Hina-chan, I'm Habataku"

"Habataku?" I asked surprised

"From this night on, we'll train every night this way, because it will be easier for me to teach you the following moves of taijutsu if you can see how to do it. And what would be better than see your own self do it?"

"I guess that sound logical" I conceded

"Very well, get ready because we are going to work hard; your body won't be exercised so you won't become stronger just like this, so every morning you'll have to train extra hard"

"Ok, lets begin" I was eager to try this new training method!

For some hours Habataku instructed me into some extremely complicated moves, but I was sure that if I were to master them, I could be stronger

Next morning I woke up somewhat mentally tired, Habataku said it was only natural to feel that way in the beginning

Both Naruto-kun and I met with Sore-nee-san at the yard for morning training and after that we had breakfast

It was still early in the morning when we left the house to meet with Midori-sempai and Anko-sensei

Naruto-kun was very excited about doing missions, he was wondering what our first mission would be: an assassination or the rescue of a princess. I whished for something not that complicated

And to my joy and Naruto-kun's anger our first mission was to find and recover Tora, the pet cat of the wife of Fire country ruler.

"What?!" demanded Naruto-kun "catching some stupid cat?!"

"It's not stupid easy missions are assigned to Gennin, that's simple order of the things" explained Anko-sensei "now, now, don't be childish Naruto-kun, I have good news for you"

Naruto-kun looked straight into Anko-sensei eyes

"Due to your good performance in yesterday's survival exam I'm assigning you as the team's second in command, how does that sounds?" her smile was big, but not nearly as close as Naruto-kun's

"REALLY?!" he asked happy and excited "AAAAALLLL RIGHT!"

"Congratulations Naruto-kun, you deserve it" I said clapping lowly, I was so happy for him

"Well done, Naruto-kun" said Midori-sempai coming from behind him and passing her hand through his hair shaking it wildly

"So what do you say if we go and catch some Tora-butt uh guys?" asked Anko-sensei, this time Naruto-kun's reaction was more cheery

For about fifteen minutes we looked for clues, Midori-sempai asked the villagers, Naruto-kun created clones to search for the cat and I used my Byakugan to help the search. Anko-sensei just supervised us while eating some dango.

After some time Midori-sempai found a clue with a shopkeeper and we were able to reduce our area of search, finding the cat pretty quickly and easily after that. However Tora didn't seem to like Naruto-kun, so I took her on my arms and she fall sleep until we delivered her to her owner who was waiting for our return at the Mission center of the village

"Back so soon?" asked the Hokage "team 5 sure is amazing" Naruto-kun flashed a bright smile on his face

We delivered the cat to the lady and Tora instantly tried to escape again, with little success.

"Very well, we'll assign team 5 a new mission, right now the available missions include to take care of the son of a noble of fire country, clean the farming field of an ancient farmer whose back has been sprained, shopping goods and food in the next town or" Hokage-sama listed the different options but Naruto-kun interrupted him

"I don't want that kind of missions, I want a more important one not more boring stuff" he demanded

"Are you out of your mind Naruto?" asked Iruka-sensei, who was helping the Hokage with the missions.

"Naruto, it seems like I have to explain what mission are for this village" said Hokage-sama "Everyday a lot of people cross the gates to ask jobs for the ninja of this village, these can go from babysitting to assassinations. We, the higher ranked, divide the missions by difficulty into the categories A, B, C, and D. The village is divided in ranks of Hokage, Jounin, Chunnin, and Gennin. A-rank missions are performed by the strongest of Jounin or even higher, B-rank missions for Jounin and the strongest of Chunnins, C-rank for regular Chunnin and D for Gennins"

"Have you understood Naruto?" questioned Iruka-sensei

"I still want a better mission!"

Anko-sensei and Hokage-sama exchanged a look, the old man released a sigh "Very well, Naruto. I'll allow you and your team to take on a C-rank mission, it's an escort task"

Naruto-kun's eyes wide opened with happiness "AAAAALLLLLL RIGHT!" he even jumped into the sky "who do we have to protect?! A princess? A Noble Lord?!"

"Patience, Naruto-kun you will meet him right now. You can come in!" ordered Hokage-sama

A side door opened to reveal an aged man, dressed in simple cloths, he was tanned and his muscles were defined, it was clear he had worked for several years in a very laborious work.

"What?" the man asked "these are the ninjas who are going to protect me? They are merely brats!" he was holding a bottle of sake in one hand, and he had clearly drank a little too much from it

"Team 5 meet Tazuna from the Wave country, Expert Bridge Builder" introduced him the Hokage

This was the person we had to escort?

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Starting on next chapter we will finally get to the Wave Country Arc (after a good 15 chapters! I thought we'd never get here!)

Please, Please, Read and Review, Annon and Flame reviews accepted!

R&R Onegai!


	15. To Fear the Mist

A new chapter!

And now we move into the Wave Country Arc

I have a new poll for you guys:

What should happen to Zabuza in this fic?

-He dies

-He survives and flees

-He survives and goes to live in Konoha

-Other

Please let me know your opinion of this chapter with a review and once you're writing it help us decide on Zabuza's destiny!

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To Fear the Mist

We were back in our house, packing up different stuff and clothes for our C-rank mission. We would escort Tazuna-san all the way to the Wave Country, a small archipelago to the west of the Fire Country. Anko-sensei had given us 15 minutes to go home, say good bye to our families, and pack up for a 2 week long trip. This was the first time I'd go outside the village for so long. I was nervous.

I informed my father of the mission and he just moved the head to let me know he had heard what I told him and for how long would I be away.

I packed up a few ninja weapons, changes of clothes, my pajamas, my toothbrush, and a comb, all inside a backpack and a bedroll on top of it.

I met Naruto-kun in the entrance; he was already waiting for me. He was wearing his usual clothes and had a backpack pretty much like mine on his back, his ninja-to resting in its scabbard beside his waist. Sora-nee-san was beside him telling him something, even if she was whispering I could hear the conversation while I crossed the front yard.

"…and no matter what you have to protect Hinata, did I make myself clear? She, as a lady, is your responsibility, as man. Don't you dare come back without her"

"Don't worry" he replied also in a whisper "I'll make sure nothing happens to her"

"That's my little brother" replied Sora-nee-san in a cheerful tone passing a hand through Naruto-kun's hair

"Is everything alright?" I asked reaching their position

"Yup, no worries" replied Naruto-kun "are you ready to go?" I replied nodding "alright then, let's go"

"NARUTO-KUN!" a loud voice came from the gates and a green mass moved between us, with a fast movement Naruto-kun pulled out his sword and used its plain side to stop the kick that the green mass threw at him

"Fuzzy Eyebrows!" grunted Naruto-kun "You're back already?" Naruto-kun was barely stopping Lee-san's kick

"YES NARUTO-KUN! WE ARE FINALLY BACK FROM OUR MISSION! LET'S HAVE A FRIENDLY SPAR TO CELEBRATE IT! THE WINNER CAN CHALLENGE NEJI!" said the older boy with a big smile as he placed both his feet on the ground and assumed a taijutsu stance

"Don't involve me in your stupid ideas" added Neji-nii-san walking pass them with his usual cold voice

Rock Lee, Neji-nii-san's teammate was a year older than Naruto-kun and me, he was extremely strong, his area of specialization was Taijutsu, and I'd never seen him use anything else whenever he spared with Naruto-kun or Neji-nii-san, but his fighting skills were good enough to make up for it.

Usually Naruto-kun and Lee-san would spar and the winner would then fight Neji-nii-san; however, Naruto-kun had never won against Lee-san, and Neji-nii-san had never lost.

"I'm sorry Eyebrows, I can't today, we are going to our own mission today" said Naruto-kun with a large confident smile while putting away his sword.

"OH!" almost yelled Lee-san "You two graduated from ninja academy! I congratulate you!" he said very seriously with a very deep bow.

"Heh, Thanks!" replied my team mate with a hand behind his head.

"So you, the weaklings, graduated uh?" asked Neji-nii-san "Don't get yourself killed out there Naruto, or I'll have no one to beat when I'm stressed" he half joked.

"SHUT UP!" replied Naruto-kun "I'll beat you when I come back from this mission, you just wait and see!"

"Safe trip, Naruto-kun!" said Lee saluting Naruto-kun military style.

"You too" playfully, with his bright azure eyes opened the blond boy copied the salute. After that he walked away, I was going behind him.

When Neji-nii-san was passing beside me I heard him say "Don't flunk it up, loser", he used a poisonous tone which I knew, but had me uncomfortable all the same.

Sora-nee-san had heard it and threw an even more poisonous look at him. I just walked away; I hadn't replied, mainly because I was hoping for that too: Not to become a dead weight they'd had to drag…

We reached the gates of the village soon after that; Anko-sensei was already waiting for us with Tazuna-san near her.

"Good, you two have arrived" she said waving at us "now we only need to wait for Midori to appear"

"Then we are ready to go" Midori-sempai's voice sounded from a nearby tree and she appeared from behind it, as silent as ever

"Well then, let's start walking, the sooner we arrive there the sooner we can return home" said happily Anko-sensei pointing the horizon

"Are you sure these kids will be able to do the mission?" asked her Tazuna-san

"Don't worry; these guys are extremely strong, I'm confident we won't need to worry about a thing" Anko-sensei assured the client

"Let's go already!" cried Naruto-kun with an excited voice, barely holding on to his backpack, he seemed ready to run all the way to the wave country, even if he had no idea where it was.

The wave country was a few days away from Konoha, but the trip wouldn't be as peaceful as I would have liked.

We had been walking a few hours when suddenly everything happened in such a quick succession that I was surprised I hadn't missed a thing.

From behind our group two men, ninja for sure, appeared and trapped Anko-sensei with a barbed and razor chain! After that in a gruesome and terrifying move they pulled the chain between them, slashing a surprised Anko-sensei in pieces!

"First one" they counted with a cold deep voice, these men were professionals, they felt nothing when killing a human being…what was even worse, they had eliminated our sensei in a single move! There wasn't a thing we, Naruto-kun, Midori-sempai, or me, could do against that!

In an instant both men were flanking me "Second" they said into my ears. I was their next victim!

A sudden rush of terror shocked me from head to toe; I could hear the metallic sounds of the fearsome chain that both men had attached to the large gauntlets they were using. Not only were they skilled, but also they were trained to fight as a team. We had just merely become a unit; our coordination would be in no level against theirs. I also understood that they were stronger than a gennin, these were real ninja, not rookies, but assassins, professionals, and they could kill a man in a split second. They had proven it.

I wanted to fight but my body was petrified, I wanted to run but my legs were shaken by the fear, I wanted to cry but I knew I would die way before a tear could appear on my eyes, I wanted to scream but no sound reached the surface, I wanted to pray but my mind was too surprised to ask for divine intervention. All I could do was resign: I would di-

"HINATA!" pulling me out of my thoughts, stopping the men before they could move and coming up to my rescue were two clones of Naruto-kun that hit the enemy ninja with a kick to their chin, as the real one gripped his sword and attacked the chain, which was sent by the hit to a nearby tree, just to be cut in half by the elemental edge of my team mate's blade

"Adaptable jutsu!" yelled Midori-sempai "Uchiha Clan! Battle Precision!" suddenly her usual aqua colored eyes became red, and she threw a large amount of shuriken, that had metal wire tied to them, the shuriken circled the tree several times with amazing precision and accuracy pinning the two guys to that tree. I took a swift breath, the battle had finished…or so I thought.

The two men exchanged a look and suddenly both parts of the broken chain returned at great speed towards each of their gauntlets, this fast movement cut the wires that held them prisoners, and once free the men resumed their attack.

One of them came at me, with fear I noticed how his gloves were clawed with metal tips, that without a doubt were fiercely sharpen. I closed my eyes and raised my hands to try to protect myself from an inevitable attack. Through my eyelids an orange light flashed brightly. I was only waiting the sound of an inevitable crash. But it never came…slowly, I opened my eyes

"It's ok, Hina-chan, it's over"

Naruto-kun's assuring voice calmed my nerves, and I finally stopped shaking and noticed that the two ninjas were restrained. Midori-sempai was just relaxing from a defending position in front of Tazuna-san, apparently the other man had rushed towards him. Both, he and my attacker were being kept by two gigantic boas, each one of them was at least 30 feet!

A few feet away from us, Anko-sansei was smiling, she was alive!

"Good job, Naruto, Midori…" she said, and then turned to me "…Hinata, I'm disappointed, I can't believe you couldn't even move" she said with a sad tone in her voice, I myself thought she was being too nice to me, I hated myself for being so weak

"Don't worry Hina-chan, everything is o-"

"Naruto!" Sensei's voice called him with a severe tone, just to sweeten a little when he stopped trying to calm me "come here, let me see that hand" with reluctance the blond approached her

"W-w-what ha-happened to Naruto-kun?" I asked Midori-sempai stuttering terribly

"He received a scratch from that man's claw when he protected you" she explained a little worried

"Tsk" half cursed Anko-sensei "the claws were poisoned"

_Oh no! _I thought horrified, Naruto-kun had been poisoned and it was my fault, only my fault, _the least thing I could do to help is give him an antive-_

But as soon as I was turning around to take out the little medicine box I carried with me Anko-sensei solved it.

"Well I'm not a medic nin, so this might be a little rough, I have to introduce my chakra and pull the poison out, you're lucky I know a thing or two about poisons, and that it was only the hand" and without delay she took Naruto-kun's hand between her own and in a few seconds she had a large black drop floating in her hand, she threw it to ground so that would never again do us any harm

There were no need for my herbalism, and even if Naruto-kun's face had showed a few times that it was somewhat painful it had been a very clean and fast treatment

"Where did those guys come from?" asked Naruto-kun

"There was a small puddle in the road, they were hidding there" explained Anko-sensei

"There has been no rain in the last days, as such there couldn't be a puddle in the road" added Midori-sempai. I hadn't even noticed said puddle. "Come here Naruto-kun, we need to close that cut in your hand fast or you won't be to use it freely next time" said Midori-sempai walking closer to him and taking out a small necklace charm from her small shirt "this is a technique I learned in these years I was away. It's not that useful on more serious wounds but with a little one like that it should work wonders" she said and closing her eyes and taking the small charm in her hand a light glow and a faint wind moved around her and in a matter of 3 seconds the cut in the blue-eyed hand had completely disappeared

"WOW! Amazing! Midori-sempai you ROCK!" cheered Naruto-kun

"Hahah, you're over reacting Naruto-kun" negated Midori-sempai "you should had seen the people that thought me this, they were really expert healers! They could even heal a person that was clinically dead back to full shape in a few minutes with absolutely no brain damage even after a few hours, they really are amazing!"

_They are… _I repeated in my head _they were amazing, as were too Midori-sempai, Naruto-kun and Anko-sensei, but where was I? There are people that can bring clinically dead people back to life…what am I doing? My little healing balms are no match against healing jutsus or foreign techniques; once again, I'm not needed here_

That thought was preserved in my head the whole day, it made me so sad, but more than everything it was frustrating me!

I finally released all my feelings hitting a tree while shaking in the night that day.

"Focus Hina-chan!" instructed me Habataku

"What's the point?!" I almost yelled "no matter neither how much I train nor how much I try I'm still weak! I couldn't do nothing this morning!"

"THAT WAS YOUR FIRST REAL COMBAT EXPERIENCE!" replied Habataku yelling completely at me, but then continuing calmly "it was only natural for you to be afraid, don't let such a thing to get that much to you!"

"But they were amazing and I suck!" I said with tears forming in my eyes "I was too scared to even cry!" I said falling to my knees and taking my face into my hands, letting the tears flow.

"That's curious" said a male voice at my back making me shoot my head up once more "I was so scared I almost shit my pants too!" said Naruto-kun

"That's…not true" I said with a little voice "you were amazing out there, if Sakura or Azumi had seen you they would have fallen in love with you just for that"

"Well, I guess that's a shame" he said taking a few steps towards me

"What? They not being here?" I asked a little hurt by my own question; I pulled up to a sitting position and raised the knees to my face as I hugged my ankles

"No, not at all, I mean, I only managed to move 'cause a fear greater than those men took the best of me" he explained to me finally reaching my side and sitting down

"A greater fear?" I asked still with a little voice, I feared that if I were to speak louder my voice would break and I would start crying in front of Naruto-kun

"Yeah…the fear to lose you" he said turning his face towards mine and smiled his classical toothy fox-like smile. Before I knew my cheeks were burning, and I was sure that even in the moonlight my face would be bright red "don't worry" he continued "I'll protect you, I owe you way too much"

'I owe you way more' I wanted to tell him that but all I could do was to stay there, dumbfounded, with my face burning because of the blood…then I noticed the atmosphere

We were both alone, in middle of a forest on the border of the fire country, sitting together under the moonlight…would this be a good moment to tell him I liked him? Even if I was useless as a ninja he had told me that he didn't want to lose me and that he would protect me. Was that proof good enough to assume what I felt for him was mutual? Or was it simply his usual friendly concern? I…I wouldn't have such a nice moment nor close atmosphere to do it, right? I had to reach and take this opportunity!

"Na…o-k…n" my voice only managed to come out low, almost unnoticeable

"Uh? You said something?" he asked watching me with even more interest, his eyes weren't making this easier.

"Naruto-kun" I released my ankles and leaned a little towards him

"Yes? What's the matter Hina-chan?"

"To tell the truth!" I tried to make my voice sound steadier but instead it came out louder, I was so ashamed because of that and I backed down a little "t-to tell the tr-truth" I repeated a little lower this time, avoiding his eyes, my own nerves making me stutter "since…a-a long time…I…w-w-well, more like…I m-mean…y-y-you…"

"Hina-chan, I'm not understanding a thing"

"Naruto-kun, I lik-"

"OI! Naruto-kun! Hinata-san!" Midori-sempai's voice came from behind us "Anko-sensei asked me to bring you guys back, she said it's dangerous to be alone right now, come, dinner's ready!"

"Dinner?!" Naruto-kun stood up with his belly growling "oh!" he then turned to me and offered me a hand to help me stand up "sorry Hina-chan, what were you saying?"

I took his hand with a smile of resignation, I apparently couldn't even confess decently. I really was such a failure "Don't worry, let's go have supper"

'Sayonara, my moonlight confession'

We reached the camp and had dinner. Anko-sensei explained to us that the ninjas that attacked us were chunnin from the Mist Village, their nickname was "The Demon Brothers" –the name couldn't fit them better in my opinion– and that apparently there shouldn't be fights against ninja in a C rank mission, that rather this would be rated as a B mission or even higher if more and/or stronger enemies were to appear.

She herself sounded rather pleased to know that this mission was both risky and challenging, but she wanted to ask our opinion

"I'm game, as long as we work together I'm confident we can win against anything they could throw at us" was Midori-sempai's input

"Naruto-kun you're my right hand what do you think?" asked Anko-sensei

"I don't really want to return with the tail between the legs saying 'it was too hard for me', I'm the man who's going to become Hokage after all, but I'll only carry this on as long as we all agree to it" I knew he was talking about me, Anko-sensei smiled at Naruto-kun's comment and then turned to see me

"What about you Hinata?"

I felt as if I didn't even have the right to cast an opinion, after all, I had done nothing in the last fight, but…I too wanted to show everyone that I was capable! I wanted to show my father that I was strong, to show Neji-nii-san I was not a loser, to make Anko-sensei proud of me, to be at least a little useful to the team, to not be considered a failure by the clan…even, only maybe, if we were to come home with a good result from an even more difficult mission, I could confess to Naruto-kun without relying on having a good atmosphere or a nice environment, if I could prove to him that I was worth of him he would look at me!

"Let's do it" I said even more motivated than I thought I was, they looked at me surprised but a second but then their surprised faces showed a smile "let's accept Tazuna-san's mission" I continued

"Thank you" said Tazuna-san with a deep voice that truly showed his gratitude "my village is small and poor, and we didn't have the money for a dangerous and expensive B rank mission, that's why I had to lie when requesting the mission, I'm really sorry"

"Ok with that settled let's go to sleep, we resume our march at first of sun's light tomorrow" commanded Anko-sensei, and we retired to our tents to rest; I had very bad dreams that night. Dreams about me being shackled in chains and tortured inside a very deep mist, never knowing the identity of my aggressor. Luckily Habataku rescued me fast from that terrible dream to continue training inside my mind.

The next morning came with a nice weather, and thankfully no more enemies. We reached the border of the continent two days later, and found ourselves in front of the sea, its bright pure blue color was beautiful, a beauty only matched by the eyes of my blond teammate.

We found a boat that would take us to Tazuna-san's isle which was a few kilometers off the coastline.

Only we were close enough the driver turned off the motor and used an oar to move the boat the rest of the way.

As we approached the isle that morning a thick mist unrolled over us and it merely brought back the memories of my nightmare. Same that repeated its apperance the last nights.

"Why are we moving so slowly?" asked Naruto-kun

"Shhh" silenced him Tazuna-san "this is because we don't want anyone to find us"

"There's something I don't quite get yet, Tazuna-san" requested Midori-sempai "why would someone hire ninja to deal with a bridge builder?"

"A man with a very very dark heart. His name is Gatou" answered our client

"You mean the rich guy? The president from Gatou industries?" questioned surprised Anko-sensei.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know the guy here?" asked the boy on my team.

"He's a very rich person Naruto-kun, one of the richest in the world" I explained

"He holds control of this area, and possesses the monopoly of several products; as such he sells them at very high prices and earns money selling medicines and basic goods to our poor people. That's why I'm building this bridge" he pointed above us and I followed the movement of his hand. The Gigantic, no, Gargantuan construction above us was visible even in this deep mist, it was without a doubt the largest bridge I had ever seen "once this bridge is finished it will connect this country with the main land and will allow us to trade freely with other countries"

"Thus, ruining Gatou's monopoly" finished Midori-sempai

"He's evil…I won't let him do as he pleases!" said Naruto-kun with determination

"Silence kid!" demanded the boat man "someone could hear us"

We reached the end of the bridge and crossed a dark stone tunnel that led us to a small village built over the water.

We left the boat, as Tazuna-san's place was merely a few minutes away in a nearby village, further into the land.

Glad to see the sun shine above us I joined my team and client to continue our escorting.

But we had merely left the village behind when I sensed a killing intent close by, in a swift movement I threw a single shuriken at it, which was soon followed by a kunai thrown by Naruto-kun and a senbon needle, by Midori-sempai

"What happened?!" asked Tazuna-san running to get behind Anko-sensei, but she didn't answer… Midori-sempai walked with her sword in hand towards the bushes that were covering the target of our attacks…

She moved the hand in and picked up a scarred white bunny from the bushes

"Just a rabbit?" asked Tazuna-san

"Not just that" said Anko-sensei

"In these areas you just find regular brown hares" explained Midori-sempai

"This is a white winter rabbit; it grew in a place without sun, that's the reason for the white fur" Anko-sensei explained further

I activated my Byakugan, the little animal was the object of a substitution jutsu. But I found more than I barged for.

"GET DOWN!" was all I managed to give as a warning before a HUGE sword passed over our heads.

Suddenly an even heavier mist fell upon us.

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Okami's note: I did this while ill, so tell me if you find mistakes. By the way, I always loved the winter rabbit, it's cute hehehe. I wonder if Haku's carried it for all those years…

Tohru's note: We all wish that Okami recovers with haste! I'm sure a few reviews could make us both happy and therefore make her illness go away! So please R&R

More notes: Has someone noticed she hasn't called me a pervert lately? I'm so happy about that! n_n

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The following is a spoiler from the manga so if you are not reading the manga or are not up to date just move to the bottom and click the review button (n_n):

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As a huge Hinata-fan I'm shocked by the latest events that featured the manga, and if she isn't saved I'm so going to cry! I just hope kishimoto give us all the naruxhina we (fandom) have waited for so long! My response to manga chapters 437 and 438 will be in the next chapter

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	16. To be a Ninja

Here is the new chapter, this part is kinda complicated because I wanted to present some fresh stuff to this arc without exceding in the way gennins fight agains enemies clearly stronger (Zabuza, Haku) and not making them appear too strong. As such I present you this update on the Wave Country Arc

As usual I thank Hikari no Okami for being the beta of this story.

This time our beautiful Beta has honored us with a note at the end of the chapter, please be sure to read it. No more to say, enjoy.

To be a Ninja

The gigantic sword vibrated as it traveled through the air. We all managed to duck just in time; one second later and it would have cut something more than a few strands of my long hair. The sword finally stopped as it chopped itself into a large tree. When I rose my sight there was a man standing on the grip of the sword horizontally embedded in the tree. If this was the same man that had thrown the sword then his speed was far more than anything we had encountered before.

"Damn I was expecting something bad, yet, this…" cursed Anko-sensei and her voice died in middle of her phrase

"I'm actually surprised the demon brothers were defeated by a bunch of kids leaded by a nobody-Kunoichi"

"You're Momochi Zabuza aren't you?!" demanded Anko-sensei "The so called Mist Demon, a missing-nin from the Mist Village"

_I guess I better prepare to see mist then… _I sighed as a shiver ran through my spine at the sole remembrance of my nightmares

"I see you at least know that much about me" the man turned around still standing on the sword.

He was using warmers on both legs and arms, they had a military camouflage design; he wore simple strapped pants and his headband was placed in a diagonal line from his left side of the head, his muscular chest was bare. His face was the scariest thing I had seen so far: Small, dark eyes, fixed on us like a cobra's on its prey, his eyebrows were so small and close to his eyes that seemed as if he didn't had any at all, and his expression was extremely cold, so much it was disturbing. The lower part of the face was covered with bandages.

"I have to kill the old man, but I don't hold a grudge against any of you. If you surrender now and beg me, I'll may consider giving you a quick death instead of a slow torturous one"

"What did you sai-!" Naruto-kun was ready to charge against this new enemy but Anko-sensei stopped him placing a hand in front of him

"Guys" Sensei's voice was serious, something wasn't right "do not fight him, stay back and protect Tazuna-san. This one is on a whole different level" Naruto-kun and Midori-sempai placed them around Tazuna-san and I had to hurry up to catch up to their defense formation

"Fine…" said the missing-nin crouching on his sword to take the grip "…let's end the talking and finish this" kicking the tree he both liberated the sword and gave himself enough impulse to reach a nearby pond and submerge into it…but instantly he came out, STANDING ON THE SURFACE OF THE WATER!

"Ninpou, Hidden Mist no Jutsu" he said and just a second later he had disappeared and a thick mist covered all the place

"Shit! Where is he?" cursed Naruto-kun taking out his sword

"Watch it, the mist is getting heavier!" announced Midori-sempai

"Liver…" the body-less voice of Zabuza reached us from everywhere, making a drop of cold sweat run all my back …"lungs, clavicle vein, jugular, brain, kidneys, heart…8 possible targets in an assassination…which one should I target?"

"Fuck!" cursed Anko-sensei under her voice, yet I managed to hear her "Keep your eyes opened, he's got the advantage in this mist" her tone was clear, even for her this would be a hard fight.

"Then I say we strip him from his advantage!" Midori-sempai started to concentrate a large amount of chakra and suddenly released it "Dispel!" the mist suddenly disappeared, but the pressing sensation created by the energies of Zabuza, Anko-sensei, and Midori-sempai was overwhelming, just like the feeling before you do something dangerous, like standing before a wild animal or on the edge of a tall cliff, it was so heavy I even began trembling

"Focus Hinata!" scolded me Midori-sempai "Get a hold of yourself, we can't allow us to make mistakes right now"

"Don't worry Hina-chan" reassured Naruto-kun with a small voice "Together we can get through this" apparently I wasn't the only having a hard time

"Don't they look cute? Scared of a little skirmish?" Zabuza's voice came from behind me, in the middle of us, in front of Tazuna-san, how did he manage to get this close without being noticed?! Was it speed? Stealth? Maybe he just had both "It's over" he finished as we were barely turning around. I could see he had a tight grip on his sword, ready to strike us down

But a second later Anko-sensei appeared in front of him, a kunai blade in each hand, in a fraction of a second she had moved to us and slashed Zabuza in a perfect vertical line, right in the middle of his body. However, instead of blood his body released water, it was a water clone

"Foolish" out of sensei's own shadow Zabuza appeared once more, his large sword already swinging against her.

"Sensei! Behind you!" warned Naruto-kun, and I feared it was already too late…

But with a surprisingly quick reaction speed Anko-sensei parried the attack with one of her kunai and stabbed Zabuza's neck with the other one

"A water clone is too weak to defeat me" she claimed with a smirk, as the second Zabuza exploded into liquid

"So I see…" once more Zabuza managed to appear behind sensei, even with most of his mist dispersed he was extremely capable of hiding his presence and sending a mortal attack, by this moment I noticed we had moved back giving room for the Jounin to fight "…I'm not stupid, so this time it's the real deal" this time Anko sensei was in a difficult position to stop the attack and make a riposte of her own, and as the sword of the mist nin zoomed closer to her I could hear myself pray in my head for her safety…and just a second before the blade reached her she dropped to the ground, letting the horizontal swing pass her by.

However using the kinetic energy of his swing Zabuza let the sword hit the ground using the inertia as he changed his grip on the sword to twist his body with the movement and kick Anko-sensei from the ground, sending her flying to the water body nearby

"He's strong!" recognized Midori-sempai and I had to agree his taijutsu was as good as his kenjutsu, which was terrifying

Anko-sensei appeared on the surface of the water a second later, but Zabuza had already rushed towards her

"The water, feels weird" cursed Anko-sensei traying to get out of the water, but it was too late, for Zabuza had already reached her and marked a quick succession of seals

"Water Prison no Jutsu" the water around sensei moved to lock her in a large sphere of water

"He's got her!" informed Midori-sempai

"I'll finish with you later" said Zabuza "but I need to kill that old man first" he performed a one handed seal, as his other hand was used to hold the prison in place "Water Clone no Jutsu"

A second Zabuza appeared in front of us

"Sunshine!" called Anko-sensei "Run away! Protect Tazuna!" we three raised our guard

"Look at you…" said Zabuza in a entertained tone "playing Ninja, feeling important and wearing those headbands, pfff, you're just a bunch of brats, you know nothing of being ninja, a ninja is someone that has fought and defeated death, delivering it instead to his enemies. But you? What could you kids possibly know about death? You are nothing, less than maggots, not even your sensei was good enough, she isn't even in the bingo book, how could she expected to defeat me?"

"Bingo book?" questioned Naruto-kun

"It's some kind of list about the most powerful ninja there is, each village gather information on the others to expand the information of their bingo books. It contains data on regular and renegade ninja, only the most worthy ninja appear in the bingo book or posses one" explained Midori-sempai

"You three, or rather four…" he paid a glance to the trapped Anko-sensei "are a thousand years away from being in the bingo book"

"…'A thousand years'…" repeated angrily Naruto-kun, and I recalled how that was the very same sentence Sasuke-san had said to him last time

"When I was your age…" continued Zabuza, and I thought how come a ninja with his mouth covered could be this talkative "…my hands were already tainted with a hundred deaths"

"What?!" Naruto-kun found it hard to believe. I couldn't talk, but I raised my defense a little higher to my face, my fingers almost touching my lips

"What are you talking about?" questioned Midori-sempai

"About that…" began explaining Anko-sensei "in the Hidden Mist Village there was a terrible Gennin exam, that gave it the nickname of Blood Mist Village"

"Surprisingly you know about that exam" praised Zabuza

"Wh-wh-what was that exam?" I asked

"They paired all the candidates to graduation…and made them fight to the death" she continued with a grim voice, our silence denoted we were shocked to our very core.

A fight…until one of the participants…died?

"Imagine that…" continued Zabuza almost amused "classmates that had lived together, shared meals, and had the same ambitions and dreams, forced to kill each other"

_Kill each other?! That was monstrous! What…what would have happened if Konoha had that test too? Would I have had to kill Oshikuru?...and…_ I turned to see Naruto-kun _would Sasuke had murdered Naruto-kun? What about all the others kids we had taken class with?_

"However 10 years ago, the village was forced to change that test" resumed Anko-sensei pulling me out of my thoughts

"Oh! You even know about _that_" acknowledged Zabuza

"Why? What happened?" asked Midori-sempai

"10 years ago…a kid that wasn't even a ninja assassinated all the students" she answered

I could feel my small breakfast warningly high on my throat, but I managed to keep it in

"That was fun" said Zabuza with his sight lost, as if he was remembering something, and suddenly it sank into all us…Zabuza was the one who had killed all the other kids!

"If you understand it then run away!" commanded Anko-sensei "Protecting Tazuna is our mission! And nothing is more important than that"

"As if I would allow that!" suddenly the clone rushed forward towards the one in front of our formation. That was Naruto-kun, he hit him with his knee on the face, sending him prone several yards away, next to where I was. The hit had been so strong that his headband had left his head because of it

"Naruto-kun!" I ran to his side, and what I saw scared me direly. He was afraid, he wasn't even looking at me, he was looking at Zabuza and even if he wasn't trembling his eyes were, wide open. He was terrified, seemed like he was just about to run away. That was when he turned to see me, with my left hand half stretched towards him. And just like that his eyes changed. Without saying a word he stood up. And charged directly at Zabuza

"Naruto-kun! Don't!" "Sunshine!" the three of us tried to stop him…and the result was obvious. Zabuza kicked him as soon as he had been within his reach and sent him back to me.

"Kid, are you stupid?" demanded Tazuna-san

"Naruto-kun! W-why did you do that?!" I demanded worried…then I noticed that tainted by the blood dripping from his mouth, griped with determination in his hand, there rested his headband.

Midori-sempai who has about to say something too closed her mouth.

Naruto-kun stood up and talked clearly "I've swore I to become stronger" he said with his head slightly down "I've swore to protect her, and because of that, I'll never run away!"

He tied the headband firmly around his golden hair, and used the wrist of his jacket to clean the blood from his mouth and raised his head, to look directly at Zabuza "Make sure to write this down in your bingo book, eyebrowless freak! 'The ninja that will become Hokage, Hidden Leaf Village's Uzumaki Naruto, definitely is strong'!"

In my mind I screamed excited, but my lips barely managed to allow a proud "Naruto-kun" to escape. Vaguely, I thanked that I was the only girl our age that had seen that, or more girls would have fallen for him

"Don't be foolish!" scolded us Anko-sensei "this fight is over, we lost, he got me, now go away, he can't move as long as he keeps me here, and the water clone won't be able to follow you too far"

"I'm sorry sensei" said Naruto-kun

"He's right; we won't leave our sensei behind" added Midori-sempai "I'll protect Tazuna-san from Zabuza, you guys, don't worry about us"

"You hear that Hina-chan?" Naruto-kun's head turned to see me, his body still facing Zabuza "are you with me?"

"Always" I replied with a little smile, feeling my determination completely refreshed by his words

"Fools" said Zabuza with a bored tone, even if I was watching how he came at me, my body couldn't catch up. In a split second his foot landed on my chest forcing me on my back, I could feel how my head hit the cold, humid ground an instant before my body followed up with such momentum and it even bounced off the ground. I was watching the clouds and I couldn't even defend myself, I could feel my determination wash away again slowly, my heart pacing up as a dark shadow appeared above me, Zabuza had followed my movement and he was going to continue attacking me.

He raised a fist to the sky and pushed it with force towards my body, sending it into the ground again. I could feel my organs being ripped by the punch, and I thanked it landed my belly and not a little bit higher or it would have broken my ribs. Nevertheless I vomited a little fountain of blood; the feeling was horrible, so painful, so much, I could feel tears forming in my eyes from the unbearable pain.

Zabuza raised his fist once more, and I wanted to scream but I knew his speed wouldn't even allow me that, and just when his fist was moving towards me once more, suddenly everything dyed orange around me, and I felt a pair of solid arms picking me up from the ground.

He had come to my rescue; I threw my arms around his neck and pulled myself closer to him, suddenly feeling secure once more

"I got you Hina-chan" he said into my ear as the orange dye slowly faded off.

"Naruto-kun!" I hugged myself closer to him before he would let me down

"I told you I'd protect her, and I'll make sure you pay for this!!!" he lowered his arms and I placed my feet on the ground, the boy marked a single seal "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUSTSU!"

Two dozen Naruto-kuns appeared around Zabuza, all of them with their swords up, facing the Jounin who also moved a hand towards his own sword

"Hmmm, Kage Bunshins, and in large quantity" recognized Zabuza, suddenly looking serious about this fight

"CHARGE!" all of the Naruto-kuns moved forward, sword first, to Zabuza, attacking him from all directions. At first Zabuza stopped two or three attacks, but he was suddenly outnumbered and forced bellow the mountain of blonds that fall upon him.

Just a second passed and the commotion quieted down when the mass of clones were suddenly propelled away from the inside, a gigantic blade cutting them or pushing them aside, more or less a dozen were destroyed instantly and the other ones were rapidly disappearing too, until only one remained.

"Found you" Zabuza's pleased voice scared me, but seeing him move toward Naruto-kun with his huge blade in hand scared me even more! Yet, Naruto-kun thought fast and threw his ninja weapon pouch at him, and the enemy reflexively slashed it into with his sword…apparently the blue eyed was counting on that, because the pouch exploded, sending several items all around. Naruto-kun had placed an exploding note inside that pouch to stop Zabuza's approach, and it had worked pretty nicely.

I noticed how a little red weave container landed in front of me; it was a holder for senbon needles, I wondered why Naruto-kun was carring those with him, he wasn't that good with them.

Almost as a reaction I reached to pick them up, and then I felt the chakra coming from the needles…what was he trying to tell me?

"Midori-sempai" I called to the other girl "please lend me you senbon needles" my voice sounded more stable than it usually did, almost as if I had a plan, and then again, maybe I did; although I was sure this was somehow _his_ plan

Midori-sempai threw her holder to me and I placed both of them on my legs, each holder on one of them, and grabbed a handfull

"BYAKUGAN!" I cried concentrating my chakra and suddenly all around me was more defined

_I won't run away, I won't remain weak! I'll prove I'm strong, in front of him; I'm going to prove my worth! I'll show them that I'm fit to be a ninja of Konoha!_

Tohru's Note: That's all for the chapter, please R&R

Okami's note: Ok, that's the chapter & you know the drill bout checking out my mistakes. This time I want to use this note to point out some details bout the fic. More precisely about Midori.

I know she seems like a Mary Sue, I mean, clan's attacks, all kind of jutsus, even this chapter with Zabuza's mist... but come on people! Tohru's given you some BIG BIG hints that she isn't what she seems to. Believe me, there IS a reason and you may or may not like it, but there IS a reason. It'll be explained so cope with the gal for one more arc (OK, that was too much info...hope the author doesn't censure that) [I'll allow it just this once]

Really guys, if you like the idea of the story and are up for some weird surprises don't let something like that dim the interest.

ooo

And yes, you can send warnings, death curses, bombs, jutsus and stuff for the beta who's mendling too much.

Enough note. Ja ne


	17. Battle Maiden

After what I can easily call my worst springbreak so far I bring you the next chapter, this one will be an action-packed, butt-kicking abbondanza (that means plentiful). Please enjoy

I'd like to thank Dusk Eclipse and Hikari no Okami for helping me Beta this chapter

UPDATED: The mistake about the code appearing in mid of paragraph 6 should be now solved, i appreciate your help and apologize for the trouble

OoOoOoOoO

Battle Maiden

"BYAKUGAN!" I yelled with all my heart as the veins around my eyes grew thicker and my vision enhanced. This was it, no running back now

"Byakugan?" asked Zabuza, more to himself than to any of us "I knew your eyes were something else, so you're a Hyuuga…who would guess I'd find a descendant of the most powerful clan in the village of Konoha? I've heard that said clan posses superior Taijutsu…but from what you have showed, you won't even get close to me"

_We'll see about that! _I screamed in my mind as I gripped the senbon needles tighter between my fingers, while counting inside my head. I had 4 needles in each hand…counting all the remaining weapons in both pouches I just had 2 more shots before having to use _those_ senbon that were in the pouch, I had to make every single needle count

_Sparking Fingers no Jutsu! _I thought as I channeled the necessary chakra for the technique into my hands and from there into my weapons, causing small arcs of lightning to jump between them, the power wouldn't be enough to seriously damage an adult like Zabuza, but with some luck it would hinder him enough.

The water clone that was in front of us had the chakra perfectly distributed inside it, it had no weak point in its structure, my best chance was to use the weaknesses from the original, which were extremely few, and from its element, water, and I was planning on doing exactly that.

Slowly Naruto-kun stood up beside me.

"I'll give my best" I assured him

"We're counting on you, and I know you won't let us down" he said to me.

With as much courage as I could muster I rushed forward, towards the water clone.

A water clone. Analyzing all the data I had on it was my best bet. Anko-sensei had said that a water clone couldn't beat her, and so Zabuza had come out himself to fight, so a water clone had to be weaker than the original; much like a shadow clone it appeared to disappear after receiving a direct hit; it couldn't perform techniques or Zabuza would have had his clone use those to attack us; it had no organs or tenketsu, so he could only tap into physical techniques; I had never seen him use long range weapons, such as shuriken or kunai, he was a melee range fighter; besides that he was a water user, such as me, but far stronger and much more experienced, this would mean my water techniques were useless in this fight.

I threw a needle at the clone while still running towards it, he dodged it easily, this was somewhat expected, if the clone was to be reached by a needle the electric current in it would make it disappear; I followed it's movement with the other needles, one after the other in quick succesion, but each one was dodged, but at least I had forced him to move away from its position in front of the real Zabuza, I was sure this was _his _real intention with all this. Taking a few explosive tags from my own weapon pouch I channeled a bit of chakra into them to ignite them, and threw them at the real body of our enemy

"So, you have gone pass the clone and attacked the real me uh?" acknowledged Zabuza like it was nothing "but such a head on, simpleminded attack won't hit me" performing another one handed seal he raised a wall of water around him, and as the lit papers passed through it, they were extinguished, thus rendered useless…but I had managed to force the real him into defense letting us focus on the offensive. Pulling as much chakra as I could I called

"MOON JUMP!" and in a swift movement I unmaterialized from the edge of the water to reappear many yards above the battlefield, this was a risky movement, because if I were to land badly I could even die, but this was the only way to pass his wall of water.

Taking two handfull from each senbon pouch I threw a whole barrage at the enemy, but he easily managed to grab them as the needles were within his reach, I cursed inside my head

_I have to make his drop them! If he keeps them in his hand much more he'll notice something different on them!_

Without thinking I reached for another pair of handfuls and charged them once more with electricity, and in less than a second I threw them at Zabuza. I got my objective as he dropped the needles in his hand as he reached for his sword, and swinged it to stop the next round of steel threw at him, the leather cover grip of the sword protected his hand from the electric attack.

I began to fall to the ground (slowly, more slowly than I could have thought a free fall would feel like) however I knew I had just one more attack if I wanted to prepare my landing, so I pulled the needles one last time from the holders and threw them at the mist nin. Zabuza just had to use the plain side of the sword to stop the needles and make them bounce harmlessly towards the water. I made as fast as I could the hand seals for a basic Fuuton type jutsu, and taking out my fan I released the strongest gust of wind I was capable of, infusing as much chakra as I could into it in order to cushion my fall as much as possible. It was just enough for me to slow my fall, landing on my feet harmlessly, but the kinetic energy of the fall still made me fall on my butt after my feet touched the ground.

But at least, even if it had been dangerous, the whole maneuver had been a success

The needles from the last attack which were still to fall to the water suddenly exploded into clouds of smoke, as did those which zabuza had dropped to the water. The Naruto-kun that had been by my side suddenly exploded in a small cloud of smoke.

In mid air and coming out of the water were more than half a dozen Naruto-kun's, all of them inside the water wall Zabuza had created, all of the blonds had their swords in theirs hands, ready to attack.

"Wind Edge no Jutsu!" all of them cried at the same time and the air around the blades moved to create void around the edge of the blades, making the air currents made by said action enhance the cutting power of the metal weapons…but Zabuza didn't look surprised at all.

"Useless" he said widening his eyes and using his sword to stop all the blades "I noticed your little plan since a while ago" and I noticed it had been when he grabbed the needles; it had been my mistake for not charging them with electricity from the beginning.

"Salamander no Jutsu!" suddenly the air around the swords of the Naruto-kuns' ignited and became coats of fire for the weapons, but Zabuza kept his cool.

"You really have a thick skull don't you? Water puts out fire" he said with a malevolent tone, and suddenly the water wall closed up on them covering them by a second. As the jutsu returned the water on the lake, the fire on the ninja-tos was no more, pushing up with great strength (despite using just one hand) he sent the Naruto-kuns flying as the water clone returned to his position between them and me.

The clones of Naruto-kun dropped their weapons and hold to the arms, shoulders, and neck of Zabuza

I had to pass the water clone again, but he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice…I had to bring out something that could give us an upper hand

Concentrating my remaining chakra I pulled the energy into the palm of my hands and fell on my taijutsu stance. I brought the palms to my body, this technique I was going to pull wasn't complete, and this was barely the basics, but in the intense mental training Habataku had with me this was one of the techniques we practiced. I had to make this right in one chance or everything would be lost.

"Jyuuken: Twin Fist" twisting my arms I focused the chakra into little spheres of energy, the technique was originally a short range technique, but I was going to use it at long range…a range as long as my extended vision range, I just hoped the attack would be strong enough to be a threat. Pushing my arms forward releasing my twisted limbs to their original position I threw the two orbs of chakra, they weren't perfect in shape, neither were they big, but they were fast enough, they traveled performing a spiral, passing at the sides of the clone and continuing their path to their target, the shoulder of Zabuza that was keeping the prison of Anko-sensei in place. The blueish globes reached Zabuza's flesh not exactly on the mark but close enough, burning the flesh they managed to reach before Zabuza released the arm. The rushed movement sent Naruto-kun flying into the water, the hit and the need to swim and hold his breath apparently were too much for him to keep on the concentration for his clones, which disappeared in quick succesion one by one.

"Little bastards!" cursed Zabuza, rushing to attack Naruto-kun with his sword while the clone rushed to attack me. But Naruto-kun was defenseless on the water and Zabzua was standing on its surface like it was solid ground, and I was completely empty, almost without enough strength to keep on my feet, the weight of my own body was forcing me to the ground, my muscles exhausted.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!" called Midori-sempai and using her own fan (one pretty much like mine) she destroyed the clone that was a few yards away from me already prepared to swing his huge sword. On the other hand, Zabuza's arm that was holding his sword, prepared to slash Naruto-kun like a sitting duck in the water, but said arm was stopped by several snakes that came out from the arm of Anko-sensei's coat who was now free.

"Well done Sunshine, and specially you Bright Eyes, today you proved that you are a Battle Maiden" said a grinning sensei

"Because of all that happened I released the jutsu" cursed Zabuza releasing his arm, but Naruto-kun had already swam to the shore of the lake

"More like you were forced to release it, this kids here were more than a match for the task" without breaking eye contact with Zabuza she talked to our client "Tazuna-san, I guess these kids have already proved their worth have they not?"

"Yes I think so" answered the older man "I take back everything I said"

"Great" a smirk draw itself in our sensei's lips "now it's my turn"

"I beat you once, I'll do it again" said Zabuza, sounding confident

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" recited Anko-sensei "you guys did perfectly, now it's my turn, watch closely, I'm going all out"

"Heh, fool, a no-one like you can't defeat me!" Zabuza started a long series of seals, at an incredible speed, Anko-sensei, not loosing a second marked her own, matching the speed

"WATER DRAGON NO JUTSU!" called Zabuza

"INFERNO WAVE NO JUTSU!" finished at the same time Anko-sensei

From the water a huge dragon rose and charged at Anko-sensei but she breath a huge amount of fire that crashed against the dragon head on, both splashing in the middle, creating a large amount of steam that covered the whole battle field.

When the steam cleared both of the Jounnin where still facing each other, neither of them jhad moved an inch

"What speed, so many seals and neither of them screwed it up" said Naruto-kun dragging himself out of the water, completely tired too, but still capable of moving, and knowing him he would be back on shape in few minutes, ready for another round of combat if necessary.

"Well done woman" said the renegade ninja "but your luck has run out, the next attack will finish this once and for all"

"As you wish" replied Anko-sensei with confidence

Zabuza marked a rapid succession of seals, which even took Anko-sensei by surprise, she fell behind, as her enemy already finished her enemy before she could pull her own

"WATER VORTEX NO JUTSU!" a large amount of water moved from the lake and exploded against sensei in a whirling motion, covering her completely

"SENSEI!" I called her as I saw her figure beign lost beneath the waters

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed the mist ninja with energy "foolish woma-uh?"

As the waters slowly calmed and returned to its regular level the gigantic head of a bluish snake appeared, then its long body came from the water, as the snake opened its mouth another laughter could be heard

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" it was Anko-sensei "I was expecting more from the demon of the mist…you know something? I myself can be a no-one. But I was trained by the most feared name of Konoha, second in power only to Itachi Uchiha, at least since the Yellow Flash passed away"

"You couldn't mean, The Snake Sannin!" demanded Zabuza with a warry tone in his voice

"Good answer, here's you prize!" the huge snake attacked a surprised Zabuza with a tail slap, faster than a cobra strike, the powerful blow sent him to a tree, where a rain of Kunai blades pinned him to the bark

"It's over" announced Anko-sensei "time to finish this, Momochi Zabuza" the huge snake slithered to the tree in few seconds

However as she prepared to deliver the final blow 2 senbon needles pierced Zabuza's neck causing him great pain, suddenly leaving him numb

"Thanks for the help" said a figure, the face was covered by a mask, but by the voice it seemed she was a girl, she couldn't be much older than Midori-sempai "I had been hunting Zabuza for a little while now, I was waiting for the perfect time to kill him. I appreciate the help"

"Hey! Who the hell are you?!" questioned Naruto-kun, we were barely catching up to them

"You, that mask. It's from the hunting squad of hidden mist, right?" questioned Anko-sensei, at that moment I noticed her mask had the same sign as did Zabuza's head band protector

"That's right, you know a lot about the village, I'm impressed" said the masked girl

"That voice…" mumbled Midori-sempai

"Hunting squad?" I asked Anko-sensei

"It's the special group of ninja in charge of hunting the renegade ninja who turn their backs on the village, they hunt him now so that the secrets of the village he posses do not fall in the wrong hands"

Anko-sensei walked towards Zabuza and removed him from the tree, placing him on the ground, taking 2 fingers to his neck "he's dead" she announced.

"That's not what I asked!" almost yelled Naruto-kun "in just one hit! This person! Zabuza was so strong, yet this person…took him down so easily!"

"That's the way it is" explained Anko-sensei "In the ninja world there're kids younger than any of you, but with enough power to defy the Hokage… but don't you dare go thinking the old man is a weakling Sunshine" as response to this last statement Naruto-kun adjusted his standing, just as a kid caught in the middle of a prank, had he really been doubting the powers of Hokage-sama?

"Well if you excuse me, I'll have to dispose of this corpse, it posses uncountable secrets" said the masked girl moving closer to Zabuza's body. I was glad, the sooner it could be away from me the calmer I would feel. She carried the large man's body as if it was a feather

"Your voice…" repeated Midori-sempai "…you are Haku-kun right?"

Suddenly the girl turned to see us, apparently taking more interest in us

"You're Haku-kun, right? It's been ages since I heard your voice but…I'm sure it's you" continued Midori-sempai

Making a one handed seal the girl disappeared along with the body of our passed away enemy

"Midori-sempai, who was that girl?" asked Naruto-kun

"Just some old friend…I met ages ago…far away from here…so many years…" trailed the white haired, an uncomfortable silence fell upon all of us…our teammate apparently lost in her memories

"Well, snap out of it Midori" sensei snapped her fingers in front of Midori-sempai and the girl blinked twice "Tazuna's house is just a little further away, and I really need to rest…I'm exhausted, and I'm sure you guys are too" both Naruto-kun and me had our clothes ripped apart in several places, in some parts they were barely keeping themselves together and we were covered in dirt, bruises and cuts.

"Hina-chan, you were great!" cheered me Naruto-kun "totally awesome! You kick ass!"

"Yes…" the tone Anko-sensei had used really scared me "you did well Hinata-chaaan~" this was bad "however…you called me 'sensei' before didn't you?" crap…I hadn't used her name last time.

"I guess you need some punishment to make sure this doesn't happen again~" her expression was very scary

"I-i-i-i-i-I'm s-s-s-so so-so-sorry! I-i-it won't happen a-again!" I pleaded

"Too late!" her voice was lovely but her eyes…

Is a swift movement she grabbed a kunai blade and made a single cut at me, in less than a second…the already damaged fabric of my dress was destroyed completely, dropping in rags to the ground.

I could feel the color rising to my cheeks and in the edge of my vision I could see how Naruto-kun was blushing too, his eyes widening, a red drop appearing in his nose…if someone else was looking at me I couldn't concentrate anymore. Taking as much air as I could I screamed

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Okami's note: I haven't said it for some time, but really, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WITH THAT LAST SCENE, TOHRU?! DAMN PERV!!!!

¬¬****

And yeah, please check for mistakes. (Damn perv author ¬¬)

-Hey, it's in character you said that yourself, and i think its nice to bother Naruto and Hinata from time to time XDDD (and you know i put that scene just to make you say "perv" XDD)

That's all for now, so far it's a tie one vote for zabuza dying and another one for Zabuza living, there are still a few chapters until I have to write Zabuza's fate down so, send a review with the answer about that should happen to Zabuza in this fic

The technique Hinata used, the Twin Fist, is the bases for the attack she showed in the latest chapters of the manga, during the following chapters she'll develop this technique along with other of her trade mark techniques and of course some original surprises

Btw, if Hinata called Haku a 'she' that's 'cause that's her impression, just that, as in the original Haku is a boy

Cya next time, I hope you guys had a great springbreak


	18. Basic Training Completed

Hello guys!

I'm finally back with a new chapter

This chapter was a pain to write not only 'cause I caught the flu but also because a dire case of writer's block, however it's finished and its almost a double long chapter too

As usual this chapter was checked by the beta Hikari no Okami, thank her ^^

OoOoOoOoO

Basic Training Completed

I turned around crouching, trying to cover myself completely with my jacket (which thank god was spared of Anko-sensei's wrath)

"Don't look!" I urged Naruto-kun, who babbled nervously and turned around swiftly.

"I wanna reach Tazuna's house tonight Hinata, please hurry to dress up" pressed me Anko-sensei with a cheeky voice, she clearly couldn't care less about my shattered dress.

"Meanie" I cursed under my breath.

"Did you say something, Bright-eyes?" she asked me with a nice smile, though I wondered how honest it was.

"Nevermind" I dismissed it "Midori-sempai, could you bring me my backpack please?"

"Um, sure" and swiftly she ran with her cheeks a little pink and brought my light luggage "here you are" She marked a quick hand seal with her eyes closed and appeared a changing room for me to use, after that she went to stand with Naruto-kun, both with their backs towards me.

"Surprisingly shy for such a great ninja" I commented to Habataku in a whisper tacking out a new dress from my backpack along with a new fishnet suit.

"Maybe she's from a more traditional family, although you're right, she's amazing, genjutsu good enough to appear a real looking changing room, this level of genjutsu is beyond most I've ever seen; in all my time I only found another person capable of creating something like this"

"Hinata-san is a very beautiful girl isn't she?" asked nervous and in a whisper Midori-sempai to Naruto-kun outside. After all, the walls were just genjutsu and sound could pass from one side to the other, I just hoped they didn't have as good ears as mine, which just seemed to caught everything lately, and pray that they hadn't hear my low talk with Habataku.

"Yes she is" replied the boy in an equally nervous tone.

"It won't be long before she has a lot of boys knocking at her door asking for a date" continued the older girl, and her partner took several seconds to reply.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that" was all he said. And after that they remained in silence making me remember what I was doing.

Taking a look at my body I noticed the multiple hit, cuts, and bruises I had, therefore I grabbed a little bottle that contained my healing balm and applied a little to my wounds and then hurried to put on my clothes, walking out of the changing room to meet my team.

"I'm ready, you can turn around now" I said with my cheeks a little hot as both the blond and the white-haired turned around and the changing room disappeared.

"Well let's go, and I hope we don't find any other 'trouble'", said Anko-sensei "right, Bright-eyes?" clearly the trouble wasn't exactly about more enemies.

"No, Anko-sensei" I said "by the way, guys?"I offered them the container of my healing balm "would you like-"

"GREAT! YOU BROUGHT SOME!" before I could finish my phrase Naruto-kun snatched and opened the bottle, using the product in his wounds.

"What's that?" asked Anko-sensei.

"Hina-chan is a master herbalist" explained Naruto-kun "she knows how to mill and mix certain plants with healing properties and makes this. It really fastens recovery! And it's a pain supressor too!" he offered the little bottle to Midori-sempai who analyzed it very interested, while whispering to herself in a very low voice "the legendary healing balm, proud of the clan…who would've thought she was able to do it while so young"

"Did you say something, Midori?" asked Anko-sensei, Naruto-kun blinked, apparently he hadn't heard.

"Eh? Ah, no, nevermind" she said and passed the container to Anko-sensei. Apparently I was the only one who had heard it clearly…but I had no idea what Midori-sempai meant.

"WOAH! This is really good stuff!" said surprised Anko-sensei.

"Told ya!" replied Naruto-kun with a wide toothy fox grin.

"Impressive Bright-eyes, most impressive, you could even send some medic-nins to the unemployed list with this stuff!" praised me Anko-sensei…I could only feel how my face grew hotter and how my eyes went to see my feet.

"…thanks" was all I could muster out of my lips, my heart felt suddenly warm, my feet light and my lips kept curving into a smile. I was useful.

We reached Tazuna's house. It was simple and was located on the outskirts of a small village: a two story square stilt house with a traditional structure. As we walked inside I noticed that the house was probably very luxurious in another time, but that it had fallen from its former grace to a terrible poberty. What had happened to this house and to the family that lived here?

"Father" a young woman came to greet us, her dark blue hair fell like a dark waterfall behind her back and long bangs fell at the sides of her face.

"Tsunami" greeted back Tazuna-san.

"Father, where have you been? And who are this people?" asked the girl.

"We are ninja!" replied Naruto-kun excited.

"Why, hello, your father came to ask for protection to the village of Konoha, we were assigned to this task" explained the friendly Anko-sensei "Mitarashi Anko, nice to meet you Tsunami."

"These people saved my life, twice actually, if it wasn't for them I would've died the very minute I hit the road" said Tazuna-san to his daughter.

"Then be welcomed to our house, we don't have much, but by all means please take whatever you may need" offered the woman.

"A roof over our heads and food in our stomachs will be enough" assured the eldest ninja.

"Well then, come in"

We had an early dinner (we had had only a small breakfast on the road and had missed lunch that day) and were installed in several rooms of the house. Naruto was going to sleep in the same room as Tazuna, Anko-sensei would sleep with Tsunami, and Midori-sempai and I were given the only spare room in the house. We put our bags on the room and organized the futons and sheets to sleep. After that, we took out our pajamas and got ready to sleep, Anko-sensei had told us we would be training very hard the next morning, but I felt the body completely exhausted, no endurance training in the academy had prepared me for such a harsh fight, or such an extenuant mission.

I was preparing to sleep in the room when Midori-sempai started to take things out of her backpack. First she put out some clothes much like the ones she used normaly, miniskirts, and light t-shirts and tops. A few years back when I asked her why she would dress such revealing outfits she said those were for mobility in combat; after that she put out several yukatas, all of them gorgeous, and she explained that those were her usual house cloths, after that she put out a little cosmetics bag, Midori-sempai had always used a little make up, even in battle, but even so I was surprised by the things she had brought with her for this mission; she then took out two pairs of civilian sandals and two more pairs of her usual cogs, and finally three fashion magazines.

"Well I don't have an inborned fashion sense like Ino or Sakura or you, so I have to study a lot about beign a girl you know? So I usually read several of these magazines per month. If it wasn't for these I could be using an I'm-here-kill-me yellow vest or something weirder, really" explained Midori-sempai with a smile.

After that, we took out toothbrushes and brushed our teeth from any dinner rests, and went to say our good nights to Anko-sensei and Naruto-kun, but we found something unexpected as we approached the room.

"Nothing is going to be ok!" it was the voice of a kid.

"What did you say?!" replied Naruto-kun. We hurried to enter the room. We found Anko-sensei and Naruto-kun with Tazuna-san and Tsunami-san, a little kid was discussing with the blond.

"You are stupid!" the little kid was wearing a white hat with blue lines on it.

"Inari that was rude!" Tsunami scolded the little kid "these ninja saved your grampa!"

"It's ok, I'm rude too" defended him Tazuna-san.

"Mom don't you see it?" questioned the little kid named Inari "they're all going to die, Gatou will find them and whipe them out!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY BRAT?!" Naruto-kun rised a fist "listen up! You know what a super ninja is?! Well that's me only a lot better! I'm gonna be Hokage! This Gachou or Blatou or whatever he's called is no match for a real hero like me!"

"Heh there's no such thing as a hero!" Inari replied with a mean tone "you're just full of stupid ideas!"

"SAY IT AGAIN!" Naruto-kun charged at Inari but Anko-sensei grabbed him from his jacket with one hand

"Calm down Sunshine"

"If you want to stay alive you should go back to where you came from" said Inari leaving the room

"Inari where're you going?" asked Tazuna-san

"To look out at the ocean, I want to be alone" the kid replied crossing the door

"Sorry about that" apologized Tazuna-san in name of his grandson

But Naruto-kun wasn't satisfied. He managed to free himself from the one-handed grab and followed Inari towards the stairs outside of the room

"Naruto-kun were you going?!" I asked worried

"I'm going to say a thing or three to that kid! I'm gonna put him in his place right now!" he replied climbing the stairs

"Wait please! Don't do this" I said going after him.

We walked down the second floor hall when we heard some crying, we walked silently towards a slighty opened door. Inside Inari was looking out the window of his room towards the ocean; he was crying dearly and "Daddy" was all that was understandable between the sobs. I put my hand over Naruto-kun shoulder to suggest that we leave, and he accepted mumbling something like "I'll let it pass this time" after that, we went to our rooms and put out the lights.

"That really was a day" as soon as I fell sleep I found myself inside my mind, the projection of myself that Habataku assumed for my training was standing in front of me: Her dark hair short and in a duck tail cut, my mothers jacket zipped up over the traditional suit of blue pants and blue shirt that was my clan's training outfit "however, that's no reason to skip out our night training, as it proved itself useful in the last battle" said the other me.

I was really tired and wanted to recover from the stress of the battle, but I really wanted even more to be better and useful, so I threw my tiredness away into a corner of my mind and listened to Habataku

"Very well" she continued "now, today we were on the offensive, but just because our opponent was forced into defense; however, it won't always be like that, there will be times when you will be faced with a ninja master of offensive or with such a large amount of enemies that will leave you no choice but to fall back and defend. After all, some of the most powerful Jyuken techniques are defensive movements that are based on a counterattack. Therefore, these days we are going to train an attack that is both, a perfect defense, but that has the power of a rock boulder rolling down a mountain, pay close attention, I'll do it once first"

And what I saw there left me with my jaw hanging from my face, and not wasting a minute I put myself into practice.

The next morning we had breakfast and soon after that, we were in the woods with Anko-sensei, waiting for her training.

Naruto-kun was not wearing his orange jacket so the only orange in his outfit was a line that ran through the sides of his brown pants. I was wearing my normal outfit, but this time, Midori-sempai had offered herself to comb my hair and apply some make up on my face, so I was using my hair down and a little shade over my eyes and lipstick, I really liked how I looked, but it was making me feel nervous that Naruto-kun kept paying me a look every few minutes; Midori-sempai was wearing a beautiful violet yukata with her hair tied into a short braid. It was clear that we were more relaxed after yesterday's battle.

"Hey Anko-sensei!" called Naruto-kun "teach us that awesome jutsu you did yesterday! What did you do to walk on the water?!"

"I'll teach you how to do it when you guys are ready for that, don't worry. Actually, today we will take a step towards that"

"But! What was that person from yesterday, how did you called her Midori-sempai? Haku? And what's that thing you said Anko-sensei, those hunter ninjas"

"Hunter ninja, or ANBU, are the ones in charge of hunting down and killing ninja that leave their village, and they disspose of the body so that the enemy can't analyze their jutsu, or any medicine used in their bodies, any kind of secret that could be dangerous for the village"

"But…it's weird" said Midori-sempai taking a hand to her chin

"What's weird?" I asked

"Well I was kinda in shock yesterday…I haven't heard that voice in like forever…but…if my memory serves me right, I recall that Haku had something to do with a man using a Huge sword, and that they caused problems to Nar- I mean, that they were…uh…caused problems"

"Wait…You said she had something to do with…what exactly?" questioned Anko-sensei

"You already had your doubts right Anko-sensei?" questioned Midori-sempai

"What? What's the matter?" questioned Naruto-kun

"Truth is, Zabuza is still alive" declared Anko-sensei

"WHAT?!" yelled Naruto-kun

"But! Anko-sensei! You checked him and said he was dead" I said

"Think about it backwards" said Midori-sempai

"She used needles, which don't have that much of a mortal effect" explained Anko-sensei

"However, all of the ANBU are experts about anatomy and know a lot about the body" continued Midori-sempai

"So the needles in the neck were to force Zabuza into a temporary death effect. After that, that person carried the body of Zabuza instead of working it right there, the sooner the body is gone the better" finished Anko-sensei

"So…THAT MONSTER IS STILL ALIVE?!" yelled Naruto-kun

"What're we going to do?!" I asked worried

"Train your asses off!" replied Anko-sensei "so…first you're going to climb trees…without using your hands"

"Climb trees?" I asked interested

"That's too easy!" replied Naruto-kun with a smile and charged the closest tree, running vertically over it until he reached a tall branch "we used to practice this!"

"I'm sorry Anko-sensei" apologized Midori-sempai from the branch of another tree "I recommended this exercise when we were in the academy, thanks to this exercise we were able to learn the elemental jutsu these two know"

"We've been doing this since we were 7 so this exercise is natural for us" I replied from the very top of another tree, using the distraction my teammates created I was able to reach the top without anyone noticing

"Bright Eyes can reach that height?" asked Anko-sensei both surprised and excited with a smirk on her face

"Yup! Hina-chan is the best at doing this!" explained Naruto-kun

"I guess this was very basic for you guys, but…will you be able to succeed when faced with an advanced exercise?"

"Advanced?" I asked

"Later, later, well go tell Tazuna to be warry, that the enemy is still alive" explained Anko-sensei and we jumped down from the trees and the four of us walked to the house to explain the situation to Tazuna-san.

OoOoOoOoO

There you go, no cligghanger today, in the next chapter we well have the special training Anko-sensei gives them, along with new jutsus taught by Midori, all for the sake of battling Zabuza the next time. I won't write down the entire story about Inari and stuff, I'll just mention that Tazuna explains it, so if by chance some of you don't it you might want to see chapter 11 of the anime (not sure what chapter its in the manga)

I'll remind you to please tell me what would you guys like me to do with Zabuza, should he die or live and if the answer is live would it be to join Konoha, flee, or what?

Please R&R!


	19. Advanced Training

Well! Here we're (super late but whatever)

This chapter was checked by Hikari no Okami, make sure to blame her for the dela- I mean thank her! (To tell the truth I'm the only one to blame I got a terrible case of Writer's Block, thats the reason this chapter is soooooo late)

Enjoy!

OoOoOoOoO

Advanced Training

Naruto-kun yawned, apparently bored.

"Don't yawn when I'm explainin'!" scolded him Anko-sensei and hit his head with one of the scrolls she was handing us.

"Hey!" the boy rubbed his head "theory is boring! I learn better by doing the stuff!"

"Well I don't like it either, but theories do work! Whatever we like it or not" continued Anko-sensei "so stop interrupting" she hit him again "now as I was saying, we'll continue with the training about bringing chakra to the feet, however this training will be optimized for each one of you, based on what I've seen to be the things you need to improve. So with that being said these will be your trainings" she handed us a few scrolls, one for each of us.

Naruto-kun had to make short dashes while Midori-sempai attacked him with rocks, this to improve his reaction, speed and reflexes; I on the other hand would be working alone, my task was to run at top speed while kicking a stone, the scroll said it was for stamina, adaptation and flexibility, when we asked Midori-sempai about her task she just answered that it didn't matter and that she would do her part once we had finished ours.

"Well then, I'll go guard old man Tazuna, shall you ran into some kind of trouble, Sunshine, use this" she handled Naruto-kun a small fireworks cannon "this will create a large yellow cloud in the sky, and if I see it, I'll come right along. Over the bridge I'll have one much like this, but it will create an orange one, if you were to see it you're to drop the training immediately and go to the bridge, ok? Any doubts? No? Well then guys, take care!" and marking a hand seal Anko-sensei disappeared.

We were in a forest near the bridge construction site, a minute or so from each other so that if the enemies were to try and attack us, Anko-sensei would be here in a second, and in case they targeted Tazuna-san again we could swiftly provide backup.

"Very well, let's get to work" proposed Midori-sempai "I'm sure you guys will be able to ace this training in a few days…so…why don't we go back to the old times? I'm going to teach you new jutsus!" and she gave us one extra scroll to each of us

"What? more theory?!" asked Naruto-kun worried

"Not for you…I'm getting to understand you, the jutsu you have there is the Chakra Spear" explained our older teammate

"Chakra Spear?" I questioned interested.

"Yup, it's much like the special Taijutsu attack Naruto-kun uses, but this one is better"

"But if it's similar then why learn it?" demanded the blond

"I said similar, not equal, your attack right now could be considered the first step towards the Chakra Spear. You deliver a hit to your opponent using tekken and then release a large amount of chakra to the body through your palm, this makes the attack stronger and allows for a little of internal damage to be done; this flow is released based on the speed of the punch and in a cone shape. However the Chakra Spear is an attack created to increase range, and maximize both internal and external damage, releasing the energy on a straight line; the attack is to be delivered by a charge, and the speed of the chakra is the sum of the dash speed and the punch speed. If you can mix this technique with your regular taijutsu your punches will be fearsome, capable of much more damage and your height problem will be solved because your reach will be longer"

"I'M NOT SHORT!" yelled Naruto-kun

"Yes you are, Hinata-san is taller than you" told her the white haired

"B-b-b-b-b-b-but! Girls are taller than boys in our youth and then the boys get taller!" I tried to say something that could ease Naruto-kun, maybe that way he wouldn't be angry because of our heights.

"Moving on" continued Midori-sempai "Hinata-san's jutsu is an analysis jutsu, the very one we, Anko-sensei and I, used to study the balm you provided us with, but it can also be used to analyze seals, enemies, weapons, and could also be used for techniques; however, it requieres a lot of time to fully analyze an object, so this technique isn't that useful in a battle. Still, the ability to see through solid material and at great distances which the Byakugan provides Hinata-san with, can get her to know a lot about the enemy before combat, which could give us an edge in battle"

"That sounds awesome! You'll kick butts Hina-chan!" Naruto-kun cheered me.

"Sadly…that jutsu does have a lot of theory. It's not as physical as the Chakra Spear"

"It's ok" I reasured "I'll be ok, I don't mind theory" and I really didn't mind at all, after all the extenuating physical training I passed in my youth in order to learn the Jyuken, theory was just fine with me, thank you very much.

"Ok, let's get to work" said Midori-sempai

Without delay we focused on the exercises Anko-sensei had given us, Naruto-kun dashed a hundred yards at top speed while Midori-sempai threw rocks at him from a hidden position in the woods every 10 yards or so, and Naruto-kun had to catch them all without getting hit by them. On the other hand I had to run around the forest as fast as I could while kicking a little rock all the way. It sounded easy, but it was not.

The speed made it complicated to see a small rock bouncing in front of my feet, plus the rock often bounced to the sides or got trapped by roots or something like that, and I had to change my direction (thus slowing me) to go after the rock and continue as fast as I could. This fast-slow routine and the constant direction change added to the concentration needed to bring chakra to my feet to run faster, as well as focusing my sight on the road and on the stone made this an extremely tiring training exercise; I was not prepared for such stamina demanding practice. I finished my first 5 mile circuit around the forest and saw Naruto-kun and Midori-sempai still working hard, the determinated look on the blond's blue eyes made me regain my standing and my breathing, motivating me to do the remaining circuits.

The afternoon came fast; with our heads focused on the training we failed to notice the pass of time. But when we were finished with the regular exercises and took a little rest we noticed that our body had kept check of how many hours we had been working. I thanked for the chance to just sit down, relax a little and read the scroll for that analysis jutsu Midori-sempai had given to me. Just as I began reading mine Naruto-kun stood up faced a tree and started to punch it, just as if he was trying to practice his taijutsu but I knew he was practicing his new jutsu, however after several failed tries he had to sit don't and read for several minutes how the jutsu was done, but I'm sure he re-read it a couple of times because he remained there several minutes… that and I had checked the scroll with my byakugan and realized that it had almost no theory at all, just a short explanation on how it was to be done. After a while he stood up again, went a little further into the forest and kept practicing. Midori-sempai had excused herself saying she had to do the exercises Anko-sensei had given her, and thus she had vanished into a nearby shadow.

I kept practicing by myself, the jutsu Midori-sempai had gave me functioned exactly as she had explained, the chakra flows on whatever object was to be studied showed the diferent information according to color, intensity, speed of the flow, etc; however no matter how much I tried that jutsu I couldn't get a clear reading.

And once the night fell and we were going to sleep I trained with Habataku, practicing her special Taijutsu Style inside my head.

The next morning after having breakfast (which was quite eventfull because of the fights between Naruto-kun and Inari-kun), Anko-sensei gave us an unpleasant surprise.

"Weights" she said smiling holding several dark green weightbands in her hands.

"WHAT?!" complained Naruto-kun

"Yup! You are going to wear these, one on each wrist and one on each ankle; you will begin with half a pound in each one of them, so you will be carrying 2 extra pounds today. Tomorrow we will add another half a pound, and keep adding weight all the week. You can't remove these 'cept when bathing or sleeping, ok?"

We continued like that for a few days: In the morning we would do Anko-sensei's hellish training (which after the second day changed to me doing the running in zigzag), in the afternoon we would practice Midori-sempai's exercices and in the night I would have my regular sessions with Habataku, so that even if at night my body was resting I was decaying fast mentally. By the fourth day (and with2 full extra pounds on each arm and leg) I kept falling during the morning training…

"Ugh!" I fell to the ground as tall as I was.

"Hina-chan, are you ok?" asked me worried Habataku.

"Yeah, it's notting…" I said slowly getting on my knees.

"Maybe you should take a few minutes rest?" proposed the older female.

"No, I'm ok, really" I lowered my head to see the necklace and smiled at it.

"If you say so"

"I can't rest now, if I do so my mind will think about giving up…and I promised myself I would be strong, would be usefull, would made him praise me"

"He already praises you enough"

"But only as a friend…and I'm looking for other kind of praise"

"Hinata…" replied Habataku surprised.

"Wha-? Did I say something weird?" I questioned blushing a little.

"Not at all, I just, I was thinking how much you had matured, I'm proud"

"Thanks" now my blush covered all my face, my mother was proud of me "I can't stay here or I'll finish late" I stood up and continued with my training, suddenly noticing how something was changing.

'What's this? That was very good! If I can continue to do this…it will help me with my other technique!' Was this the result of Anko-sensei's training?

Having witnessed a remarkable improvement, I continued the training, not letting my determination be disturbed by my continuous tripping.

That night Habataku let me off the hook really early, letting me have some rest.

On the fifth day (and with 10 extra pounds over us) Anko-sensei paid us a quick visit to check on our training. I really gave it my very best effort to show her how I had improved: I could keep up the pace longer now, and I could turn and change the direction I was going to follow up the irregular bouncing of the little stone perfectly, plus I could run faster no matter the terrain I was standing.

After a few minutes of watching each one of us she turned towards me and smiled "Bright-Eyes, congratulations, you have finished your training, good job" after that she turned around towards Naruto-kun and Midori-sempai "you two on the other hand should be ashamed! You have improved so little in these days there's still more training for you, and I'll double your weights!" Poor Naruto-kun; he still had to suffer that hellish training.

That day I was released from torture and allowed to be bodyguard with Anko-sensei on the bridge. I saw the multiple men work carrying materials, mixing them and put them together into the slow process of building the bridge, meanwhile I continued reading the scroll of my new technique and practicing (this training was less extenuant, but also more frustraiting; however, I wasn't the only one who had a hard time). On my first day there, 3 men quit the building of the bridge; apparently they were too afraid of the moment Gatou would strike down the bridge with zelous intention. And by the face Tazuna-san showed, that scene was somehow part of a routine. At the end just before the sun hid in the horizon, the Labor Day was finished at the bridge and we began the walk home.

"I'm going to check on those two" said Anko-sensei "Bright-Eyes could you please escort Tazuna-san? We'll catch up with you guys soon" and after that the Jounin left me alone with our client. I released a sigh, was it really ok to be so relaxed? shouldn't she stick to the client? What would happen if an enemy was to attack us now that she left him alone?

"Let's go Tazuna-san" I said letting him lead the way

"I have to bring some things for dinner tonight, we'll make a stop by the store" explained Tazuna-san. I followed him into the town.

This was the first time I had come, usually we just walked on the outskirts to reach Tazuna-san's house. But what I saw today really shake me to by very core.

The suffering of the village was very clear; as poorness and hungryness was striking this land, people would sit down on the streets, some of them begging, most of them too tired, too depressed and too hungry to even raise a hand. Several unemployed men were walking the streets asking for any kind of job; anything in order to obtain something to buy some food. Desperation was clear in everyones eyes, eyes dull, without any shine, without any hope. Those eyes no longer held any dreams.

"This is terrible" I said shaken "these poor people…"

"Here's the store" announced Tazuna-san, who, apparently, hadn't heard me.

The store was as depressing as the rest of the town. There were almost no vegetables, and the few carrots and tomatoes that were there were small and didn't look that healthy, even if they were still eatable. I started to wonder if it would have been easier for Tazuna-san and his family to get the money to hire a B rank mission or feed the four of us, ninja, which was staying with them.

While I was checking the little products they had in exhibition a man approached Tazuna-san from behind and stretched a hand with sinister intentions towards him. I didn't act, I reacted; nearly no thoughts crossed my mind in that moment.

I channeled chakra to my feet and rushed at the two men activating my Byakugan, and I landed three hits to the man, one in the backside of the knee, turning his articulation numb, forcing him to stand on his knees due to lack of support, the other one between his shoulder blades, introducing some chakra in his system, making his upper body shake and finally I hit the side of his head, disturbing his middle ear causing him vertigo. He was completely harmless right know…however the fact that all of my attacks had reached him made it clear that he was no assassin. After begging for forgiveness he admitted to be a mere thief…and I really felt bad for the poor man, it wasn't his fault to be forced to steal in order to try and eat something. The only one to blame was Gatou.

"You really surprised me back there" praised me Tazuna-san "there're no women in this country who can fight like that"

"I'm sorry for that poor man…luckily he will only feel bad a few hours" I said blushing

"I was very surprised when you let him go"

"Well he was just trying to live another day right? …Tell, Tazuna-san, what happened to this country?"

"It has been like this since Gatou got to this country, there are no roads that connect this island to main land and Gatou controls all the trades by sea. He sells all the products at high prices and people cannot buy basic items, like medicine or food. Even worse, people have lost the will to oppose him. That's why we need the bridge, once it's finished a trade route to mainland will be open and we'll be able to buy and sell with other villages and everything will get better…Gatou knows this and that's why he's trying to stop the bridge from being finished"

"Don't worry" I assured Tazuna-san "We'll protect you, we'll make sure you save this country" my voice came out packed with determination, almost as if it wasn't my own, but Naruto-kun's. That made me smile

-----------------------

"Why do you keep saying stupid things! Playing to be heroes!" Inari almost yelled at dinner that night.

"Inari, I've already-" his mother, Tsunami, tried to calm him down with no results.

"Gatou has thousands of men at his disposal, what will a bunch of loosers do? You'll all die and no body will-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" yelled at him Naruto-kun "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING THERE COMPLAINING LIKE YOU'RE A POOR VICTIM IN A DRAMA?! IF YOU WANT TO STAY HERE AND JUST BE A CRYBABY THEN YOU CAN CRY UNTIL YOU DIE FOR ALL I CARE! I WON'T DO THAT!"

We stayed in silence for several seconds, Inari was trembling and Naruto-kun and he were glaring at each other. After a few seconds Inari stood up and left saying nothing.

"Naruto-kun…" I said to him…those words were…

"That wasn't polite Naruto-kun you shouldn't talk back to him like that" told him Midori-sempai taking a sip of her tea.

"Pfff like I care" answered the blond crossing his arms.

"What's the matter with the kid?" asked Anko-sensei "in the picture you have on the wall he looks so happy and his smile is so wide, but now…"

"That's a story from before all of these began, when the people of this country still knew the word courage, when that man, the man called "Hero" lived in this country"

"A hero?" asked Naruto-kun suddenly interested "who's this hero?!"

Tazuna-san turned to see the picture Anko-sensei had mentioned. It showed Tsunami and Tazuna-san, almost like they were today, so the picture couldn't be too old; between the two a very happy looking Inari was smiling as wide as his mouth allowed him. A fourth person had been in the picture however it had been ripped apart purposely.

"It was my daughter's husband" answered Tazuna-san, we all fell into a surprised silence "Inari once had a dad not related by blood, his name was Kaiza"

We listened to the story of how Kaiza and Inari met, how their relationship grew more and more, they were as united as if they were real father and son. Neither Naruto-kun nor I were experts in that field, but we knew the meanings of that bond. Kaiza was a foreigner; however, he saved the town once from a great flood risking his own life. And he tried to do so again once Gatou reached this country, but he had been publicly executed when he had opposed the schemes of the business man.

"Since then Inari hasn't smiled and he spends most of his time alone" explained Tazuna-san

Naruto-kun and I knew what that phrase meant, especially after we had seen the boy in his room the very first night we got here. Blinking twice Naruto-kun stood up.

"This is no time to train Sunshine; it could be dangerous for you to use more chakra today" warned Anko-sensei

"I'll prove it to him" he said loudly "that in this world Heroes do exist!" and with determination he stood out striding towards the woods

------------

The next morning Naruto-kun missed breakfast and he wasn't in his room, so I finished my small breakfast as fast as I could and went to the woods where we usually trained looking for him…but I could feel my heart being squeezed when I found him there with another girl!

Editor's adventures: Okami's reading the chapter.

"You can't remove these 'cept when bathing or sleeping, ok?" _Hey, I wouldn't mind that training._

"…10 extra pounds over us…I'll double your weights!" _Ok, maybe I would. O-OU_


	20. Final Battle Pt1

Well and after a long absence i'm back, and after a long preparation we are finally getting into the FINAL BATTLE!

The beta for this chapter was Hikari no Okami (is there any other?) and i want to thank specially at Dusk Eclipse for also reading and helping me with his opinions

Lets get this started!

* * *

Final Battle at the Bridge! (Part 1)

That night the moon shone brightly on the starry sky, I was looking at the sea through a window, just feeling the salty air against my cheeks and my hair, relaxing myself after a long tiresome day. I wondered how he could have the endurance to still be out there training himself. Then again, that was one of his good points, one of the reasons to why I fell for him…"one of the reasons for which I love him" I finally thought feeling how the hot blood rushed to my cheeks, with a sigh I thanked for the cool breeze.

I heard a sound and moved out of the window in the blink of an eye, activating my byakugan, just in case an enemy would be nearby.

"Do you mind some company?" I heard Midori-sempai's voice and turned my head over there, looking through a wall. She was outside the house on the other side of the wall, Inari-kun was with her, she took a sit beside the boy and they both looked at the ocean. Relaxing I cursed in silence how the ninja life was starting to get on my nerves, making me a little, maybe too much, paranoid about things.

"In name of my teammate I wish to offer you an apology" she said "Naruto-kun tends to be a little blunt on the way he says the things, but I assure you he's a good boy, and even with all his harsh words he means you no harm"

Inari-kun stayed in silence, but paid a glance to the older girl letting her know he had heard what she told him.

"You know?" Continued Midori-sempai since, apparently, Inari wasn't that talkative right now. "Naruto-kun, is probably the one who best understands how you feel, and I'm not just saying it 'cause he's the only boy on our team" she gave the little boy a warm smile which he answered with surprised interest "since the day that boy was born he was been alone. He had no parents, no friends, and he wasn't exactly a popular guy in our hometown either. My guess is he got tired of crying, got tired of being alone. I'd bet any day that those words he said to you, are the very same words he kept telling to himself when he was about your age" Inari-kun's attention was completely caught now and after a few seconds Midori-sempai said out loud "Hey! Hinata! Why don't you come out here and help me?"

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks (again): I got caught using my byakugan to peek into other people's conversation… I could think of no worst shame for any Hyuuga, or any girl for that matter! I knew it was futile to try and play innocent with Midori-sempai, she had discovered me completely, because she had even turned around towards the wall in the exact point I was.

Slowly and stiffy I went back to the window and let myself out of house to join the other two youngsters.

"G-g-Good Night! Inari-kun, Midori-sempai!" I greeted them a little too high out of my nervousness.

"Is what this girl said true?" asked me Inari-kun

"A-about what e-exactly?" I replied

"About the loud boy" he added. I looked at him in silence not knowing what to say.

"Now now Hinata-san, why don't you sit down, try to relax and give the kid an answer?" invited me Midori-sempai with a smile, her expression was calm and nonchalanty, not only as if she didn't care that I was spying on them but also as if she knew I would be doing that.

"O-ok" I said taking a seat on the other side of Inari-kun

"Well?" pressed the boy

"Ah! Yes! Naruto-kun!" I was about to start rambling when I stopped, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and tried to control myself "yeah, that's pretty much how it is" I said with my eyes closed, waited a second or two and opened them to look Inari-kun to the eye "we had been classmates since the first day when we went to the academy, and he was always alone, even after classes he stayed by his own, later on I learned that he had no parents and lived by himself. It wasn't until we were about your age that we became friends and started hanging around each other. In those days he entrusted to me the words which had kept him together during that lonesome time, and I can assure you, that this night I heard them again, word by word, and even if he said them in anger, he did trying to help you" I finished looking at him with the nicest smile I could muster, and apparently I did a good job because he seemed to like it "its very sad to see you crying and mourning all day, but it's even worst to see you taking out your frustration on all those around you Inari-kun. I'm sure your mom and grandpa feel the very same way. You should enjoy them. I feel kinda envous about you Inari-kun, I don't have a mom nor any grandparent, and my relation with my father and my sister isn't what I would consider healthy. You should enjoy what you have Inari-kun. And please, have faith in us, both your granpa and we, ninja, are working hard for your sake, and we will gladly die to protect your family if we must, in order to protect you and your mom, so please have faith, and try to smile"

Inari-kun didn't say anything but he looked calmer. I sensed a presence and turned around to see Anko-sensei leaving while whispering

"Apparently there's no need for me to participate, you girls have it all covered"

-------------------------

Early in the morning the next day Midori-sempai was combing my hair as usual and applying a little make up on my face.

"Say, Midori-sempai?" I asked

"I already told you to just call me by my name" she replied

"You already know a lot about me, and I said even more last night, but, I just noticed that I don't know a lot about you"

"What would you like to know?" she asked back

"Well, what about your parents? Or siblings?"

"I live with both my parents, and sadly no, I have no brothers nor sisters: my mom had complications when she gave birth to me so I won't ever have a little bro or sis. I'm an only child, but I'm happy"

"Are they ninja?"

"No, my mom is an actress, she usually takes part in plays in the capital, and my father is a business man"

"Then why did you choose the shinobi life? I remember that you…" I started to ask but she interrupted me .

"There's something I need to do" was all she answered, but the tone she used was almost elderly, as if it was something said by my father, it gave no room to further discution "now, let's go have breakfast, or Tsunami-san will get mad" As soon as the tone had come it had disappeared. Dropping the subject and once Midori-sempai finished with me, we went to meet the others at the table; however, Naruto-kun wasn't there.

"He didn't arrive last night" explained Tazuna-san while drinking a cup of hot tea.

"Anko-san" asked Tsunami "you don't think that maybe he…"

"Nah, Sunshine's a proud ninja of the leaf, he's fine, I'm sure" asured Anko-sensei, tranquilizing both Tsunami and me. I finished my breakfast as fast as I could without forgetting to breath or chew the food and then I stood up.

"I'll go look for him, I'm sure he's hungry, and probably just felt asleep somewhere in the woods" I explained and with a little reverence I gave my thanks for the food.

"Ok, but, isn't the boy's supposed to go get the girl and not the other way around? Anyway, just don't nag your _dearie_ too much on the way back, it might scare him… now that I think about, I thought you two weren't an item…?" asked Anko-sensei

I could feel the color rising as I heard each one of her words "ANKO-SENSEI!" I said loudly almost yelling, I was so embarased "we aren't!" and with that I left the building completely ashamed.

I ran as fast as I could until the house was no longer divisable, and slowly I let my pase fade into a slow walking…but my mind was still going as fast as it could.

"If only that night we hadn't been interrupted there was a chance that I could have answered proudly and with confidence that Naruto-kun and I were going out…I could have showed them a nice smile while saying it too" I fantasized about how I could have given that answer, every thought more girlish than the previous one.

I arrived at the woods where we usually trained and started looking for him, but I could feel my heart being squeezed when, in the distance, his figured appeared, and he was sitting on the grass with another girl! I rushed to hide behind a tree and activated my byakugan, keening my ears so I could hear what they were talking about

"Are these the herbs you're looking for, miss?" asked Naruto-kun to his companion, showing her a little plant he had picked up.

"Yes that's the one, I'll need several of those please" her voice was a little deep, but it was very beautiful. They put the herbs they were picking up in a basket the girl had nearby "Sorry to ask, but what where you doing in this place?" asked the girl to Naruto-kun. The girl had long dark hair and big, brillinat eyes, her face was gorgeous, and her pale, skin like marble topped perfectly with her thin figure; she was wearing a nice pink kimono.

"I was training of course!" replied Naruto-kun without a second of delay.

"Training? What for? You already look very strong" said the girl

"But I want to be stronger, so that everyone will acknowledge me!" said the blond with determination.

"Tell me, do you…have anyone you want to protect?" her question got both Naruto-kun and me surprised "I think that someone can become truly strong when that person is protecting something or someone"

Her words made me remember when Naruto-kun stood up to Sasuke-san in the academy, when he protected us from Misuki, and how both he and I were able to stand before a jounin as strong as Zabuza to rescue our sensei. I hoped Naruto-kun was thinking about the same things.

Naruto-kun smiled at the girl "Yeah, I understand perfectly what you mean" The girl picked up a few more herbs and stood up "are you leaving miss?"

"Yes I have to go back now. You'll become truly strong" assured the girl before making a light bow and starting to walk away, once she was a little away from Naruto-kun she added "By the way, I'm a boy"

…

She was actually a he.

I can only imagine my expression as she, I mean, he said that, but, Naruto-kun's was priceless. We both froze there unable to say a word. I waited a few minutes, seeing Naruto-kun trying to get over the shock (and I was too, trying to get over the shock, but at least it made me calmer, Naruto-kun hadn't been with another girl) and after that I approched Naruto-kun.

"Good morning" I said lowly,

"Ah, Hina-chan! Good morning!" he replied smiling.

After the little incident with the herb-gatherer I took Naruto-kun back to the house (despite his desire to keep on training, and I horribly did felt like I was nagging him about feeding himself properly) and after that he joined Midori-sempai in the training, while Anko-sensei and I went to the bridge to protect Tazuna-san.

By the end of the day when Anko-sensei went to check on their improvement, she announced that they both had finished their training and starting tomorrow they would join us at the bridge. I was very happy to be able to spend my days with Naruto-kun again, however, the strain of two rough straight days got the best of Naruto-kun who even skipped dinner and fell asleep early.

The night passed without problem and actually in silence now that he was dreaming, but I kinda felt it empty without his loudly presence full of stamina. I smiled. The next morning Naruto-kun slept in and Anko-sensei told us to let him sleep so that his body could recover from all the training he did. So, that morning Midori-sempai, Anko-sensei, Tazuna-san and I left the house for the bridge and let Tsunami-san and Inari-kun looking after Naruto-kun.

The morning at the bridge passed on without much trouble, but a chill moved through my back when a thick mist covered the place. As a deep laughter sounded around us, the few workers that still were there ran away.

"AROUND TAZUNA! GATHER!" ordered Anko-sensei.

"As we tought Zabuza was still alive" said Midori-sempai.

We all positioned ourselves around Tazuna-san in a second, covering all the sides we could.

"I've comeback to get my revenge on you" Zabuza's voice sounded cold and merciless "I can't allow my reputation to be hindered by the likes of you"

"Come on out, come and fight me!" challenged Anko-sensei

"I have to kill the old man. You know I'm a professional and I can't leave without terminating my target" suddenly his voice came from all around us and a handfull of Zabuzas appeared wielding their massive sword against us "those kids will not stop me!"

"You'll do good not to understimate these kids. BrightEyes, show him" said to me Anko-sensei

This was the opportunity to demonstrate all my physical training from Anko-sensei, my chakra training from Midori-sempai, and my mental training from Habataku.

Concentrating my chakra I started to move my hands "8 trigrams, protection of the 64 palms!" thin lines of chakra came out from my hands and with my flexibility and control I used them to hit all the Zabuzas, stopping their approach. After getting a hit all the Zabuzas exploded into water.

"Hmmm it seems like they have improved" acknowledged Zabuza calmly.

"Even if the water clones posses only a reduced amount of power when compared to the original, she destroyed them all in a single hit" said a new voice.

"It seems like you have just found yourself an opponent, Haku"

At that moment Zabuza and the masked girl from last time stepped out of the mist.

"So, she _**is**_ an ally of Zabuza" confirmed Anko-sensei

"Haku-kun why are you doing this?!" demanded Midori-sempai "I know you're a good person"

"I don't know how you know me, but that is none of your business" replied the masked girl.

"We have the advantage here, go Haku" commanded Zabuza and with a nod this Haku person advanced in a whirling movement towards us. Reacting to her approach I moved forward too.

"Jyuken: Twin Fist!" we clashed straight on; however, this time I used my technique as a melee attack, thus making it stronger.

Her centrifuged force against my attack were even matched and we both were sent a few steps back each when we our attacks hit each other's.

At that moment I noticed that she was using senbon needles as weapons, matching her I pulled out a kunai blade, however, as the attacks continued we all noted I was lacking speed against her, and sooner or later I would be unable to stop her attacks

"I'll protect Tazuna-san, Anko-sensei, please go help Hinata-san!" pleaded Midori-sempai worried.

"Heh" Anko-sensei showed a smirk "there's no need to ask for it, I was about to" just as she moved to help me Zabuza intercepted her.

"Do you think I'll let you? Let's allow the kids some fun of their own"

The situation was critical, I was loosing terrain with each hit, even if I was a little stronger she was clearly faster, and I was only able to focus on defending myself.

"I don't want to have to kill you, but you won't stand down, will you?" asked me the girl, and suddenly her voice seemed somehow familiar.

"I don't want to fight you either, but I don't think you'd stop this fight even if I did" I said to her.

"We have to kill the bridge builder" she answered.

"We have to protect him" was my reply.

"I see…" she said "but you won't be able to keep up with my speed in the next attack, especially when I already have two advantages. The first one is all the water around us" at that moment I noticed all the water from the water clones that was still around us "and the second one, is that I have already locked down on of your hands" she was talking about the hand in which I was holding my weapon "you won't be able to use jutsu now" and a reply to her own comment she started to use her free hand to mark hand seals, she stomped on the ground and all the water rose around us "Water Needles no Jutsu!" all the water that was in the air took the form of a senbon needle, I knew the technique perfectly, it was my technique, just that this was much, much more powerful that any time I had used it before.

_This is bad! she's a water type too!_

In that moment all the needles moved towards me.

* * *

And for now that's it!

The next chapter will come out in about two weeks when Okami and I return from our summer Vacations

Please R&R


	21. Final Battle Pt2: Goodbye Hinata

Hey all I'm back, I know a week late but hey at least I'm here =P

So this time for the closure I bring you a wooping five thousand word chapter that I really hope you enjoy.

The beta for this chapter was Hikari no Okami. Thank her ^^

Charge on!

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Final Battle Part2: Goodbye Hinata

"Water Needles no Jutsu!" called the girl

"Moon Jump!" I cried in response

In a second I disappeared dodging the deadly attack and reappeared a few feet behind the enemy. She was a water user too; this was going to be complicated, as she didn't seem to be below my level, but way higher, as such, my water techniques would be nearly useless. I had to resort to other attacks. In quick succession I marked a few seals.

"Grasping Fingers no Jutsu!" crouching I released my lightning technique at the water that lay on the bridge and with a simple manipulation jutsu I moved the water charged with electricity towards the masked girl. However, her speed was something else, since she was able to turn around and deflect the water with her own chakra and charged towards me with her needles in her hand ready to strike. I reacted pulling out my fan to stop her attack. That gave me an idea.

"Your hand is still locked, the advantage is mine" she said marking more seals, but I still had an ace under my sleeve.

"Wind Scythe no Jutsu!" opening my fan I released a gust of wind molded with chakra forcing Haku to jump away from my attack. This was my chance, now that she was out of balance I had to take the ofensive. Moving forward I swung the fan once again.

"Fan the Flames no Jutsu!" a semi circle of flames appeared infront of me, one again forcing Haku back, in a quick motion I threw my fan at her, which she deflected easily; but that was the plan, for the fan was just a diversion.

Mimicking her movement from a little while back I spinned towards her.

"Jyuuken: Twin Fist!" this time instead of just twisting my arms I used the centrifugal force of my spinning to add extra power to my attack, but the speed made it complicated for me to aim correctly, thus making me miss both of my attacks, even if it was merely by an inch. The power of the chakra I had prepared was still something to be reckoned, making Haku slide back as fast as she could. It was clear now, maybe her speed was better, but all around I had the upper hand. As my fan fell back I caught it easily.

"Impossible!" cursed Zabuza "Haku was pushed this far?" In response Anko-sensei pushed Zabuza back a little too.

"What's the matter _Devil-chan_?" she smiled attacking with a kunai that Zabuza parried with so easyly that it looked as if Anko-sensei was an amateur "worried 'bout your friend there aren't cha? Let the kids have their fun, didn't you said so yourself?"

Zabuza swung his massive sword pushing Anko-sensei back "Haku, do you understand what happens if we lose here? We can't allow ourselves that much."

"I understand that. I don't need you to remind me." Haku regained her standing "I'm impressed, I never thought you would actually be able to get me to use this, not after what happened just a few days ago, but you have improved beyond any expectations. From now on, I'll show such speed that even your power won't be able to stop it. Behold, the real meaning of 'Speed'" she swiftly marked two handed seals "Hijutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors!"

Suddenly the water on the bridge began to rise and freeze making several mirrors of ice all around me, floating in the air, creating a dome of ice with me in the middle.

Haku walked towards the mirrors, and in front of my eyes she stepped inside one. Her image appeared inside it, looking directly at me. And suddenly image replicated itself in each and every mirror.

_This doesn't look good…_

And just like that a sharp pain came from my right arm; I turned around and saw how the fabric of my jacket had a little cut in it. I followed the cut and noticed that behind me, in the ground there was a senbon needle coated in blood: my blood

_When did she throw it?_

"Surprised?" She asked me with a cold voice "this is my true power" another rush of pain came from my leg, once again the images didn't even move. Without notice my other arm began to hurt, then my shoulder, more and more of the senbon needles came at me with such speed that they were invisible. Suddenly my cheek was cut, and as an instinctive reaction I raised my arm to protect my face. I was unable to take the initiative, unable to attack. I was on the defensive and the situation was frustrating.

Suddenly the attacks became a furious typhoon of sharp unseen steel and I could only feel how some of them even stabbed my skin.

"HANG IN THERE HINA-CHAN!" supported me Habataku.

And in the end it stopped. I thanked deeply for the pause, I hoped that she could only keep such speed for short periods of time.

"This looks bad" I said with a sad smile. _Just when I thought that this fight was taking a turn for good, she came up with a powerful move like no other before… I guess it was too much to hope for someone like me to be doing well in a fight on this level._

Luckily Habataku had prepared me for this scenario, for being in a defensive position, but was my new technique something up to the challenge? Was 'I' up to the challenge? I couldn't back down now.

"BYAKUGAN!" I called activating my eye successor technique "I can't go down yet"

"I wish you hadn't said that" said Haku, resuming her attack.

With my Byakugan activated I could see that not only the mirrors where charged with chakra, but that the air around me was filled with it too. I could see the chakra circulatory system of Haku all around me, as if it was a smudged picture, and I understood it almost immediately: Inside this area of mirrors she could move at blinding speed attacking from all directions and moving in all directions from mirror to mirror. This meant that I was up to a countless amount of senbon needles because there was probably no limit to the amount she could throw at me. Once she used all she had with her, she would begin creating them with water. I prayed for my technique to be fast enough to stop all the needles.

"8 Trigrams Protection of the 64 Palms!" moving my hands all around me I tried to my best to create a dome of chakra around me to stop the needles. And for a change, it worked.

IT WORKED! I was successfully stopping her attacks, all of them, she was the perfect attack and I was the perfect defense…now it was just a matter of seeing who could keep up with such level the longest.

The fight was raw, her attacks merciless, she gave me no stop and I was being pushed more and more with each passing second. The continuous offensive stopped for a moment each time, just to be resumed with renewed determination. By the glow of the dome around me, her chakra levels where staying in the top while mine were dangerously running low each time I stopped a needle. Until it finally happened, I missed a needle, but with her speed being maintained, we both knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. The metal weapon penetrated my left shoulder slowing my movements with my left hand a little, making two more needles hit me from that side. Slowly but steadily my endurance was failing.

"Hina-chan are you ok?!" asked me worried Habataku

"Yeah" I panted "At least for now. But I can't attack and at this rate I won't win"

"Surrender; if you do so, I won't kill you" offered Haku

"But, if I do that, you'll kill Tazuna-san, and I can't allow that. I won't give up" my reply didn't sound that strong now that I was showing tiredness _I have to hold on, until Midori-sempai and Anko-sensei defeat Zabuza, then they'll come and help me…until help arrives, I have to hold on._

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to finish you now." said Haku coming at me once more

The exchange was short this time. I was making more and more mistakes, letting more of the needles hit me: my back, legs and even chest was full of needles, then one hit my neck and I lost my focus and thus finished my technique. Closing my eyes I tried to cover my face and crouched ready to receive the attacks, but right there a large shadow covered me and with a gust of wind all the senbon where pushed back.

"I'm sorry I'm late" My knight in shining armor had come to my rescue "No one messes with Hina-chan while I'm here."

"He's arrived" acknowledged Haku.

"Are you alright? Princess Hinata?" he hadn't called me princess since the academy.

"Silly, you should be resting" was all I said before jumping to his arms, relieved now that he was here. All would work out now, someway.

"What're you doing here?" asked Haku to Naruto-kun.

"That's a stupid question. I promised to protect her many years ago and I always fulfill my promises. Listen to me, and you've better washed your ears because I'm only going to say this once!" he pointed a finger at the mirror he had in front of him "The number one most powerful and awesome ninja of the Konoha Hidden Village, Uzumaki Naruto! The one who will be known as Hokage has arrived, and is standing before you! And no one messes with Hina-chan while I'm here"

"…You had said that before already"

"Really?" asked Naruto-kun confused

"It makes no difference" stated Haku "even if you were able to pull out some decent speed there, you won't defeat me with just that"

"Naruto-kun, she uses the mirrors to move at blinding speed from one point to the other and attack from there" I explained Haku's technique to the blue eyed boy while I was regaining my feet. "I'm not sure if your 'Flash' will be fast enough to beat her"

"We'll have to find out" he smirked marking a single cross shaped hand seal "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" one clone for each mirror appeared and all the Naruto-kuns charged at the enemy head on; however, with blinding speed Haku attacked from her mirrors, stopping the clones before they could get close enough to even attack. All the clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke along with the real Naruto-kun who was completely stabbed by the remaining needles thrown by Haku.

"I told you; no matter what you do it's useless"

"Naruto-kun, are you ok?!" I ran to help him up.

"That hurt" said the blond standing up "She's tough" he had just finished his sentence when a new rain of steel came at us from all directions. Naruto-kun wasn't ready to defend himself from the attack, so it was up to me to protect us now. Focusing my remaining chakra I performed my defensive jutsu once more. The needles bounced twisted and broken from my chakra rays, harmless.

"Hina-chan! This jutsu! It kicks ass!" cheered surprised and amused Naruto-kun.

The attack finally finished and I was able to stop myself, my chakra was almost completely gone. Anymore of this and I would risk on suffering chakra depletion, sadly I had fought at top level for too long, I couldn't keep it up anymore.

"Hina-chan! You rock!" said my excited teammate almost jumping, but I was barely standing on my own two feet "I have a plan! If you can protect us with that jutsu I may get us out of here!"

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I…I can't do it. I'm exhausted; I have no more chakra..." I told him the sad reality, ashamed to look at him in the eye.

"Please Hina-chan! It's the only way, I won't make it alone!" he pleaded.

"Naruto-kun…" I was going to apologize one more time, but Habataku interrupted me.

"Tell him you'll do it" she said firmly.

"But..."

"Have faith" she pressed

"O-ok…I'll do it" I said unsure.

"Great! I knew I could count on you, we're getting out of here!" Naruto-kun made his trademark cross shaped seal "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" once more a fresh round of clones popped up.

Strangely I felt how my tiredness was slowly disappearing, and how my strength returned to my arms and legs, I was recovering rapidly.

Placing the swords on their mouths all the clones of Naruto-kun began to perform several hand seals, and Haku seeing them wide open for attack took the opportunity, throwing once again her needles at us

"Protection!" I called performing my technique of defense, buying Naruto-kun more time.

"Wind Edge no Jutsu!" he had finished his hand seals, and coated the blades with a sharpening wind. Following whatever their plan was, they thrust the sword into the ground and performed even more hand seals.

Seeing the setup Naruto-kun was preparing Haku intensified her attack trying in vain to penetrate my shield, with my energy refreshed my technique wouldn't fail so easily.

Meanwhile something called my attention, something beyond the dome of ice. I had been so focused on the battle that I had lost consciousness of the things that were beyond it, but now that I was feeling calmed by Naruto-kun's presence and was somehow recharged, my senses' sharpness returned.

"Zabuza, I tell you, Naruto-kun _will_ defeat Haku, there's nothing you can do about it" Midori-sempai's voice came from not too far away

"Nonsense, no one has ever escaped Haku's Bloodline Technique. The ones that are going to die helplessly are the fools inside!" replied the Mist ninja.

"You have never before encountered a ninja like Naruto-kun! He's by far the strongest of those standing in this bridge! If you don't stop this, Haku will die!"

"Salamander no jutsu!" Naruto-kun had finished his jutsu, turning the wind coating into a fiery burning fire around the sword "Here we go! RAAAAAAAAAAHHH" All the Naruto-kuns jumped towards the mirrors, protected by me, until they reached the limit of my range, sadly they were still far away to slash the mirrors directly…but apparently that wasn't his plan

"UZUMAKI NARUTO…INFERNO!" with a slash all the clones released both techniques on the blades outside the barrier created by the protection of the 64 palms, the intense heat splashed the mirrors thanks to the reach of the wind edge jutsu, but apparently the vortex of fire created wasn't enough to destroy Haku's technique

"You underestimated the power of my jutsu, it won't melt that easily" she calmly said.

"I'm not done yet!" each Naruto-kun drew a single explosive note "HELLFIRE!" they threw the note directly into the scorching inferno as they were falling. I knew Naruto-kun was trusting me to protect us from the terrible explosion that would come next.

_Make the chakra stronger! _I said to myself. _Longer, faster, more flexible! _ As I moved my arms all around the chakra built a thin web which held off the explosion around us.

As the fire dispersed I could see how the mirrors were all half melted and in pieces, Naruto-kun's plan had worked out just fine.

"Come on, let's get out!" called me Naruto-kun, and we both ran towards the end of the falling dome

"I won't let you" Haku appeared in front of us

"Out of the way!" Three clones of Naruto-kun jumped in front of us, charging with their swords, but with a single hand Haku pulled the first one out of balance and destroyed it with an elbow thrust, made a spin to dodge the attack of a second and delivered a kick to a third, finishing the second one with a quick chop after that.

"Pretty convenient, that the Shadow Clones are destroyed after a single hit" even without her jutsu, Haku was still a fearsome opponent. Naruto-kun cursed in silence.

"Split up!" ordered Naruto-kun to the remaining clones, but Haku was faster than them, and started to do her single handed seals.

"Flying Needles!" the water that melted from the mirrors once again became sharp senbon that flew against us.

"Protect her!" yelled a clone and all the remaining Naruto-kuns turned around and jumped over me, protecting me as human shields. As the needles destroyed them one by one they all exploded into clouds of white smoke, until only the original remained standing beside me, in the middle of that thick white smoke.

"Water Style: Water Dragon no Jutsu!" as the cloud was slowly clearing we heard the voice of Haku casting another jutsu at us, we heard the sound of a raging river and rose our heads to see the gigantic figure of a menacing dragon made of water that was quickly coming at us from the heights.

"CHAKRA DISPEL!" Naruto-kun focused his energy and rose his hands at the approaching dragon, following his example I did the same.

"Chakra Dispel!" standing beside him I too pushed my hands up.

With both our chakra combined the jutsu that kept the dragon in shape was slowly undone, leaving only normal water to fall over us, drenching us completely

"Please! You MUST listen to me!" it was Midori-sempai voice, she was outside the dome, I could hear her clearly beyond the falling water "Zabuza! _Listen_! There's too much in risk! Please tell Haku to stop! Before we ALL die here!" what were they talking about?

"It's clear that Haku has the upper hand, there's no way that stupid boy can win" I could almost imagine the wicked smile on Zabuza's face.

"Don't be so foolish!" there it was, Midori-sempai's elderly tone of voice "If the fight continues, the Hyuuga girl will die" W-what? "And if that happens that boy will become a monster, a demon! One so powerful that will make you shit your pants and that will endanger our lives and destroy this bridge in the blink of an eye! I've seen it once and I don't want to see that again in this life or the next one!"

The sound of falling water stopped; finally the dragon was completely over. I removed the remaining water from my eyes with the back of my hands, and opened my eyes to see the battlefield once more. The water that once formed the water dragon was now returning to the mirrors, repairing them completely and extremely fast. Haku had expected this, if her last jutsu didn't kill us it would provide her with enough time and water to repair the ice mirrors. Now we were back at square one.

"Let's resume from where we left, if you will be so kind" Haku entered the closer mirror and once again her image was reflected in all of them. The second after, new needles were thrown at us, instinctively we took our arms to the face, trying to protect ourselves.

"Damn it!!" cursed Naruto-kun "Hinata! Can you stop her attacks for just one second? I'll try to pull something else! Just one second that's all I need!"

"Hinata listen to me" pleaded Habataku "I'm currently channeling my chakra into your system" that explained why I was feeling renewed just a second after feeling so exhausted "however this method is very dangerous for your body, your chakra system might not endure the passing of external chakra for too long, the 'relationship' between us might help with it but it won't make it perfect, you two have to finish this fight quickly, so fight without holding back anything, I'll keep replenishing your chakra for as long as I can so don't worry! Go! NOW!"

_Thank you_

I took out my fan once more and opened it "WIND SCYTHE NO JUTSU!" I had seen that a powerful gust of wind could stop the needles; with just enough chakra I could perform that too.

The needles were blown away by the powerful wind, but it wasn't everything I had ready. Spinning my whole body I released a large current of hot raising air, which would expand all around us. It was a circular version of the wind scythe.

All the mirrors were hit as expected, marking light cuts in the ice, but deep and numerous enough to stop Haku

"Naruto-kun she can't attack unless the mirrors are completely repaired! This is your chance!" I almost yelled at him in my rush. He smirked.

"You rock! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" once again the clones overpopulated the area

"Too slow" punned Haku letting us know that all the mirrors were now repaired.

"Doesn't matter, I'll take this battle to equal grounds!" a confident smile appeared in all the Naruto-kuns and suddenly all the world was dyed orange. It was the first time Naruto-kun would perform that technique with clones, I wondered how long he could maintain such rush of techniques.

All the clones shoot at the mirrors, they moved at what seemed normal speed, but the world around us (Haku included) moved slower, of course inside the mirrors of ice Naruto-kun and Haku were evenly matched, no longer had Haku the advantage of his blinding speed, no longer was it a million Hakus against us, now Haku had to fight one on one versus Naruto-kun. Well, not exactly, since with his clones, Naruto-kun had the advantage.

Haku came out of the mirror above us, throwing needles at all the Naruto-kuns who rushed against the mirrors, but even if the needles were in trajectory of collision, the movement was too slow; they wouldn't reach Naruto-kun or his clones in time.

The blond figures pulled back their right arm and concentrated some raw chakra in it, thrusting the arm forward in middle air.

"CHAKRA SPEAR!" The fists landed a hit on the mirrors and the chakra were released into long rays of chakra that broke through the mirrors and continued on forward, leaving a big hole in each and all of them, the sound of breaking crystal sounded all around us.

Ultimately the needles hit the clones and those exploded into new cloud of white smoke, only the original kept reflexes good enough to parry the attack and land decently on his feet. The world returned to its normal colors.

"Your jutsu is broken!" cheered Naruto-kun happily "We did it!"

But from the broken crystals the images of Haku were still viewable "Naruto-kun, look!"

"That was a surprising attack" Haku's voice resounded in the dome and the mirrors repaired in few seconds "and it would have shattered my mirrors to tiny shards, if you had not used it after your fire attack, this new mirrors have much more chakra in them, you won't be able to destroy them now"

"Damn!" cursed Naruto-kun and on that moment I noticed that he has panting heavily, sweating like mad; that last attack had left him fatigued and he was approaching his limit very, very fast.

"I have to finish this now…" warned us Haku before barraging us with her senbon needles again. I answered her attack with my defense

"Protection!" as the chakra rushed to my palms I could feel my arms burning inside. Just like Habataku was saying, my body was beginning to feel the effect of her chakra running in my system. We were both running out of time "Naruto-kun! Don't you have another plan?" I told him trying to concentrate on not leaving a single gap in order to stop all the needles.

"Maybe!" he said loudly trying to get the sound pass the exchange of chakra and steel that Haku and I had going on "but I'll need you to buy me time, a lot! Can u do it?"

"Get started and I'll do my best!" I said to him wondering why he hadn't started sooner!

He took his ninja-to in one hand and grabbed the scabbard in the other "I wanted to save this Technique for when we fought Zabuza but, if we don't defeat this one we won't see Zabuza at all!"

He closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply, controlling it. He crossed his arms, leaving the sword and the scabbard as close at the ground as possible. He seemed to be meditating, focusing, and his chakra system was different from anything I had seen before, it didn't show the regular glow present when he prepared a Jutsu, instead there was a clearer glow that came from the center of his very being. All him was radiating, and with his template so calm he looked really different from his usual self, but it was a good different: more centered and gathered.

After several seconds he opened his eyes "Bushido: Cross Slash!" he made two intersecting cuts in the air, and the energy released was so strong that a gigantic X traveled in front of him, creating a huge gust when it moved, the cross even destroyed part of the bridge underneath us, marking on the concrete its passing. Almost immediately it reached the mirrors and shattered them utter and completely, there was nothing left of half the dome of ice mirrors…suddenly everyone began to talk a lot.

_What was that?! Was that Bright Eyes and Sunshine!? _It was Anko-sensei.

_What in the nine hells is happening here?! I never expected ninja to be so powerful and frightening I had no chance of surviving if they had not come with me _Tazuna-san.

_HAKU! NO! IMPOSSIBLE WHAT DID THOSE KIDS DID?! _ Zabuza's worried tone really caught me off guard

_We did it...We did it, eat that masked freak! Hehehehe _Even if I had Naruto-kun in front of me I could see that he wasn't moving his lips, was I…listening to the thoughts of everyone here? "Let's run for it Hina-chan!" his voice was on the verge of breaking, performing that technique had really exhausted him, he was depleted now. Following his instructions I ran towards the gap in that horrible dome, I would surely have nightmares with it in the future.

_How?! How did these kids managed to do all this? I've failed, I failed Zabuza-san, I didn't become a good tool for him, I'm worthless. _ Haku's thoughts were really depressing. _But I still have the chance to redeem myself a little, without the boy, I can still defeat the girl and that way at least Zabuza-san won't be angry at me, I didn't want to kill them but I have to take the blond boy out of the way. I'm so sorry._

I turned around in panic, Naruto-kun was still in the middle of the broken dome, he hadn't moved an inch, but I knew that it was more like he couldn't move an inch, and by his silly smile I understood that he knew that too, and that he was expecting Haku to counter attack now. That's why he told me to run away, to put me out of harm's way. He was prepared to die for me, so that I could get out. Naruto-kun was so stupid!

_No, no, no, no, no, no, no! __It can't end like this! He can't die! Not for me! Not like this! Not here! Please! _ I ran towards him, I felt like I saw it all in slow-motion, Haku threw the needles from the remaining mirrors, all aimed at a helpless Naruto-kun. I approached to him as fast as I could, but I knew it wasn't enough, I noticed how his image grew bigger as I was getting nearer but the needles were much, much faster than me.

_Faster! Please! Faster! I have to reach! I MUST!_

Channeling all my chakra to my feet I pleaded to my feet to run faster, to take me there on time! In the end I felt like I wasn't touching the feet at all I was just moving towards Naruto-kun at top speed

_SHE GREW WINGS?! _ I didn't understood Haku's thoughts, but I paid no mind to them, as all my attention was focused on the blond boy in front of me

_My angel…I must have surely died and gone to heaven… _and his thoughts weren't very optimistic!

"NARUTO!!!!!!"

A sharp pain returned the world to normal.

I was standing on my feet, and my chest hurt terribly, with fear I lowered my head. Dozens of needles were coming out of my chest, stomach, neck, legs, and arms; curiously, I didn't felt any pain, just cold. I coughed a mouthful of blood.

"HINATA! NO!!!!!" but the pain came from his shout. Losing my standing I fell back, feeling my body going numb. He caught me. "NO! Hinata you were the one supposed to live!" he said as his azure eyes filled with tears.

"I…Couldn't let…the world… lose…such a man…" I said to him, raising a blooded hand to touch his cheek.

"Don't speak such nonsense! You…you're going to be ok! Oh, Hinata, why you did it?" he said terrified.

"I…did it out of my own free will, sorry, I was being selfish…I couldn't let you die" I smiled, this wasn't the way I had wanted to do this, but I rather do it now "please, Naruto, listen to me…I have something important to tell you" I looked into his eyes and tried to stick to the world long enough to tell him "I used to always cry and give up, you know, if I hadn't met you I could have gone the wrong way… but you showed me the right way. I was always chasing you, wanting to overtake you. And in the end you granted me the wish I wanted, I was able to talk to you, to be with you. You changed me, your smile saved me! So I'm not afraid to die protecting you…Because, I love you Naruto"

His eyes suddenly grew bigger with shock and surprise, just as I felt how mine were closing, I was losing consciousness.

In the end I was able to confess to him, I had no regrets. I could die like this; this was a fitting end for someone like me. This was the end of my life, the end of my story. Smiling I closed my eyes.

"Is this the first time someone precious to you dies?" in the distance I could hear the weak voice of Haku asking the question to Naruto-kun, but he didn't say anything for so long that I thought I wouldn't hear his answer.

I was wrong.

"I'LL DESTROY YOU!!!!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

And so we reach the end.

I'd like to take this opportunity and thank all of you for supporting both White Heart and Myself for all this time, I've really enjoyed reading your reviews and receiving all those notifications for alerts and fav's I'm truly grateful for your support, this story wouldn't be what it is without the support of all of you, really you guys were my motivation to write this far, and I hope to count with you support in the future too.

I hope you have enjoyed this closing chapter and please R&R

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GoodBye!

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If you thought that THAT was the final chapter of WHITE HEART, you're wrong, the story is still far away from its ending, there are still a lot of mysterious things that we need to solve right?! So stay tuned for the next chapter! AND PLEASE R&R!

**Editor's note: Is it just me who wanted to roll her eyes with this? ¬¬U Sigh, please just let me know if you find mistakes, thanks for pinpointing if they exist, but remember English isn't my mother tongue, so I might miss them even on a second proof read. Ja ne.**


	22. Rebirth

Hello guys I'm back, afew days late, but well I'm not that good with explanation chapters =P bear with me

This chapter was checked up by Hikari no Okami, you better thank her because I'm sure this one was a complicated chapter although she fixed it really fast

The Legal loophole at the end (u'll see) was also her idea ^_^

I hope you enjoy! No more to say! Charge!!!

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**Rebirth**

Dying, was chaotic.

"RAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

"WHAT?!"

"HAKU!!!"

"NOOO!"

"STOP!"

"SAKURA STORM NO JUTSU!"

…Silence.

As so many other ninjas I had died in battle. I was perfectly prepared for that. I knew I would probably meet my end at the edge of a kunai or the jutsu of my enemy, and I knew I would die young too.

But I had no regrets, no loose ends, nothing that would make me roam the world as a spirit, I was prepared to move on, to let my soul go to whatever was beyond. It scared me a little but it was ok, I was feeling kinda eager to know what followed this world. I no longer felt the cold, damp concrete bridge supporting my body, I was falling slowly, as if I was sinking into a large body of water, but it was dry and warm.

Suddenly the darkness was pulling back too, in the distance I saw a bright light which was suddenly approaching to me. As it came closer the feeling was warmer and warmer. I realized the warmth came from that light.

"You did well, little one." the voice was nice and melodic, angelic even, the sound really made me calm and relax, it even made me smile.

The light suddenly took the form of a woman, a woman of long dark blue hair and lavender pupil less eyes, her figure was perfect and her face was completely flawless. In one word, she was gorgeous. She returned my smile.

My feet landed on some invisible ground and I was able to stand on them easily. I noticed both my wounds and my fatigue where no longer there.

"Where are we?" I dared to ask, I wondered if my voice would even come out, but it sounded ok.

"Have you ever heard of the light at the end of the tunnel dear Hinata?" she asked me taking a step towards me and passing a hand through my hair, now almost as long as hers. In the past I was never able to see Habataku clearly and right now here she was, completely solid; I was even capable of touching her and feeling her soft skin. It was the first time I could interact with her this way; to see her for the first time…it was…quite a surprise.

"What…are those?" I asked pointing the pair of rabbit ears poking out of her head.

"Oh my! Those, yes, they come out when I use too much chakra" she said blushing a little "they'll disappear given some time, don't worry, but I think you had a manifestation too" I didn't understood her roguish smile "anyway, don't worry"

"So…you're the light at the end of the tunnel?" I asked her curious.

"Child, no! We're in what you could call the limbo" she explained.

"So I'm not dead?" I was confused now.

"You're agonizing, and there's but one way to bring you back and you're the only one who can do it" she said a little serious.

"What do I have to do?"

"You have to desire to be there"

"But I do! Naruto-k-"

"Look inside you, is there really, a 'Naruto-kun' inside you?" my eyes widened as I realized she was speaking the truth. No longer was there the feeling that Naruto-kun caused.

"WHY!?" I demanded to know, it was as if I had just noticed that my heart had been ripped off "MY NARUTO-KUN!"

"You let him go…" explained with calm Habataku "at the moment you confessed you closed that book, you were the one that 'moved on', in order to come back to the land of the living you need a reason, something that motivates you to do so" I was devastated, I fell to my knees. No wonder I was dying, how could I live without the fire that was Naruto-kun to make me breathe? And it was my fault, for being so pessimistic, for having no regrets…

"Stand up Hinata, I can't see you like this. Come on, we need to find you a reason to live"

Habataku help me up and suddenly a large amount of enormous bubbles appeared floating in front of us. Inside the bubbles there were different images moving, like if different movies were being played inside each bubble

"What are these?" I asked with surprise

"These are your futures…at least some of them" explained Habataku referring to the more than a dozen large bubbles "each one of this shows something that you can become, a future which can be"

"All of these?" I noticed how there was a girl of dark blue hair and light lavender eyes performing different activities in each one, and the faint sound that came from each bubble created a large noise, but if one focused on a specific bubble you could perfectly distinguish the sounds from the rest. They all looked so different from one another.

One was wearing a dark leather suit and used her hair very short, by what she was doing she seemed to be a close-quarter fighting expert and an assassin; other one was wearing a beautiful yukata, and was fixing a large flower arrangement; other one on the back was shown in front of an altar, getting married to Kiba-kun… I wondered how had that come to happen, but it wasn't as surprising as seeing yet another Hinata as the wife of Uchiha Sasuke!; another one was a diplomat for the fire country, and one of the front bubbles showed me teaching young ninja at the academy, or course, not all of them were nice, there was one where I was a missing nin, running away from the ANBU hunters; and another one depressing to even look that showed me as a dark, weird woman, completely alone in a lightless room, looking to the village through a large window. It was sad to behold that; in a more neutral one I was seen as a nun in a far away temple. But one among the others called my attention the most, but not because of what I was doing, but because of who was with me

"Oka-chan!" [Mommy!]

I was walking through the main pavilion of a traditional festival and the night was illuminated by paper lamps standing over the different stands of food, games, and entertainment. Two kids were running towards me, wearing precious yukatas and stuffed animal ears: The first one was a tall boy with long dark hair. His expression was happy but serene as he approached me running, he was using a dark blue yukata and rabbit ears. The other one was a short girl, no much younger than the boy and with short blond hair. She was using a yellow and pink yukata and red fox ears, the girl looked much livelier and her smile was wide with emotion. Both of them had very expressible light lavender pupil less eyes, Byakugan eyes.

Both of them came running at me with their arms open and laughing happily.

"Oka-chan!" "Oka-san!"

As they came closer to me I crouched to hug them as they came to me. I was wearing a yukata myself, green and white, my hair was long, half of it held up with hair sticks, the other falling over my shoulder. It didn't seem like I was a ninja anymore, but it was the one in which I seemed happier, even had this glow around me, but more importantly, it was the one in which I my looks resembled more those of Habataku, those of my mother. There was no doubt I was identical to her.

"This one" I said turning around to confirm, for the woman in the bubble and the one in front of me could easily pass as twins "I want this" Habataku smiled at me, as if she knew I'd pick that one.

"Keep watching" she said warmly to me and I turned back.

"Otou-san!" said the kids running now towards a man that was approaching us. He was tall, clearly strong, he looked really important with his red and black tunic with flames design waving in the night air. His face was fair, adorned with whisker like marks on his cheeks and his blond hair complimented perfectly his large, sharp, azure eyes. In his arms there was a little blond baby boy

"IT'S NARUTO-KUN!" I cheered happily "IT'S MY NARUTO-KUN! IS HIM! LOOK AT HIM! HE'S SO HANDSOME! OH MY GOD I'M MARRIED TO NARUTO-KUN! LOOK AT HIM HABATAKU! LOOK AT HIM!" I hugged her really excited.

"So, is this the future you want? Is this the dream you want to pursue?" she asked smiling.

"Yes!" I said confidently.

"Then you'll have to work hard to make it happen, to be make sure you don't let your life take a turn you don't want, for that path is filled with hardships"

"I don't mind, as long as I reach that point" I said pointing the image of the happy family enjoying the festival inside the bubble.

"Then you better get going. Live on Hina-chan"

Slowly all the figures became blurred and the darkness extended everywhere. I blinked trying to recover my focus.

I woke up inside what seemed like Tsunami's house, the sunlight bathed the room entering through a large window. I looked around and found the amazing figure of Naruto-kun, sleeping beside my futon, sited beside me. I smiled. The feeling that for a second I thought lost had come back, multiplied several times fold.

With reluctance y reached for his cheek, I had to feel it; I had to confirm that I was here and now, that I was alive. Slowly (and enjoying every second) my fingers touched his warm skin, the contact felt really intoxicating, it was something I would never get tired of feeling. He was here, with me. He blinked, twice. Apparently my contact had woke him up

"Uh, uh…yes, more ramen please old man" he mumbled half sleep I pulled back my hand and giggled at his comment "What going…? Oh! HINATA!" he never called _me 'Hinata' since we were kids… _"I mean, Hina-chan" _now I was 'Hina-chan' again? _"You...uh...you…right! You're awake."

"Ye-yes I am, I think" I said a little confused.

"I'm going to tell Anko-sensei" and without sparing me another glance he left the room; however, neither our sensei nor Naruto-kun were the firsts to enter the room, but a person with long dark hair, wearing kimono.

"You're ok, I'm glad; you've been unconscious for hours" a nice smile draw itself on the face of that person.

"You!" I said recognizing my interloper "You're that person Naruto-kun met in the forest, that boy!"

"Actually…"

"Well hello, Brighteyes, how are you feelin'?" Anko-sensei entered the room, escorted by Naruto-kun, Tsunami-san, Tazuna-san and Inari-kun "So Haku, you wanted to check on the girl, uh? I don't blame you, she's good looking."

"I assure you that's not the case, I was just worried about her wounds. It really puts me at ease that she's awake now" the referred answered still smiling.

"WAIT! YOUR NAME IS HAKU?!" I said almost standing up in a jump pointing at Haku "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! YOU ARE THE ENEMY!"

"Brighteyes, it's no longer that way" said Anko-sensei in a calming voice, approaching slowly to check my vitals.

"What did I miss?" I asked pretty confused "what happened with Zabuza and the bridge?"

"It's all over now" explained Tazuna-san

_So…I missed it all_ I thought with sadness

"You seem to be ok" declared Anko-sensei "you'll have almost no scars, the wounds weren't that deep; though, you did lose a lot of blood, so you'll refrain from doing strenuous efforts for a couple of days, did I made myself clear?"

"Sure, but, can someone please explain me what happened after I… after I…" I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"After you _passed out_" started Anko-sensei "Sunshine here pretty much went berserk"

"He defeated me in one second" said Haku with a smile on his lips but a depressed ring in his voice "he could have killed me"

"**Its **power came out" said Naruto-kun deliberately avoiding eye contact with me "I thought you were dead…and I, lost all control over myself"

"I'm amused how that girl Midori warned Zabuza about it, her ability to read the situations is really amazing" said surprised Tazuna-san. But…was it really her ability to read the battle field what made Midori-sempai tell all those things at the bridge?…only a ninja that knew all about Haku and the Kyuubi could had thought about the possibility, but, to actually know that it would happen…

"Zabuza was surprised and lowered his guard I took the opportunity and moved on to attack him, while Midori went to stop Sunshine from killing Haku" continued Anko-sensei.

"I wasn't going to kill him…I…recognized him, after he lost his mask" argued Naruto-kun "at least I think I wouldn't have killed him"

"Zabuza and I were already in a tight situation, and then Gatou, our employer, appeared at the brigde" added Haku

"It's true! Who would have thought the rat was willing to go do the dirty work himself!" said Tazuna-san

"But the coward appeared with a lot of his subordinates" completed Naruto-kun, remembering.

"However, before anyone could do anything, that white haired girl Midori dispatched Gatou, she seemed really pissed" said Haku.

"Pissed?" I asked curious, I had never seen Midori-sempai angry, besides that day with Sasuke-kun at the academy.

"Apparently that Gatou guy made his entrance insulting Haku and Zabuza and the ninja world, and well the words just got very fast to her head I guess" expressed Naruto-kun, but that was really suspicious, Midori-sempai was way over some simple provocations, there had to be something else besides that.

"The bandits Gatou had hired didn't like the idea of losing their paycheck and threatened with attacking the town, and then we arrived!" said Inari-kun more excited that I had ever seen him "all the people stood up, grabbed any weapon at hand and went to the bridge to push out Gatou's mercenaries"

"Yeah you looked pretty awesome there Inari!" cheered Naruto-kun messing up the young boy's hair.

"But in the end the villagers were only there to stop the bandits one second…that girl used said second to mercilessly throw jutsu at them…the few survivors fled" finished Haku making everyone silent, as if they all remembered a gruesome scene.

"That explains what happened, but why are you here Haku, how come Zabuza was subdued?" I asked them still with so many questions rampaging on my head.

"Midori-sempai did" answered Naruto-kun "with his contractor dead she forced him to yield"

"And where are Zabuza and Midori-sempai now?" they were the only people missing inside the small room.

"Outside" answered Inari-kun "she said they would exercise until you woke up, I can take you there if you want" it was the first time that boy had offered to do something for a ninja since I had met him.

"Oh no you won't" scolded him Tsunami-san "I need you to go to the town and buy some vegetables, Naruto-san can take Hinata-chan just fine, don't worry"

"Actually" said Naruto-kun a little unsure "I…think I'd better go with Inari-kun. We don't know if those ruffians are still around, don't you think?" was he avoiding me?

"Fine, just don't be late" conceded Tsunami-san handing them a small bag of coins.

"C'mon Inari, I race you to the store!" he proposed excitedly.

"You're on!" said Inari-kun "Ready, set…" he started rushing "go!"

"Hey that's cheating!" said Naruto-kun turning around just as if he would dash after him but he stood there "By the way Hinata" he said suddenly serious "I'm glad you're ok" and then he did dashed after Inari-kun. Haku smiled at me.

"Come, I'll take you to Zabuza-san" he said walking towards me and offering me his hand to help me stand up. I accepted his cordiality and we walked into the nearby woods in silence, until we reached a place where the sound of steel clashing with steel could be continuously heard.

Zabuza and Midori-sempai were attacking each other using their blades, the gigantic blade that Zabuza wielded really dwarfed the small Yakizashi my teammate was using. However even with the gigantic difference in size Zabuza didn't seem to be overwhelming Midori-sempai, even if they were both using their swords one handed.

"So you were the one who taught that boy that samurai kenjutsu uh?" questioned Zabuza

"Yeah? What if I did? He carries a sword around, it's better if he learns to do something besides swinging it around like a mad man"

"And you think a shinobi should use samurai techniques?" asked Zabuza attacking once again

"Well, that was one of the easiest weapon-based attacks I know" replied Midori-sempai pushing again Zabuza without that much effort

"So you know to use more than a sword?" asked Zabuza…was there an angry ring in his voice? Or maybe it was jealousy?

"Sword and fan are the ones I have been able to see the most" she explained "that's why I carry one of each, but I've also studied a little about spears, axes, naginatas, tonfas, nunchakus, daggers, staves, kusari-gamas…" the fight had pretty much stopped by now.

"Ehem" Haku made clear that we were there.

"Oh! Hinata!" she sheathed her sword on the scabbard on her back and put her hands together smiling at me "I'm so happy you're okay!" Zabuza also put his weapon away.

"Zabuza-san?" asked Haku.

"Let's hear what she proposes" answered the man to an untold question. Even if at the moment he wasn't our enemy his voice still gave me the creeps.

We all returned to the house where Tsunami was already waiting for us with warm delicious food on the table. My stomach growled loudly as soon as the smell reached my nostrils. It was good to be alive.

We all ate together, and even if Inari-kun, Tsunami-san, Tazuna-san, and myself felt uncomfortable with Zabuza sitting at the table (especially because his sharpened teeth were visible each time he took food to his mouth), Anko-sensei, Midori-sempai, and even Naruto-kun seemed to trust them, even making jokes and laughing together. But I still hadn't met Naruto-kun's eyes, nor did he talk to me all dinner long. I could only hear his voice when he talked to everyone else on the table.

"Well. and what are we going to do with them?" asked Naruto-kun after we had all finished, referring to Zabuza and Haku.

"That's easy, we take them to Konoha with us" replied Midori-sempai drinking a little sip of tea.

"We're wanted criminals" said Haku.

"The Mist village will never tolerate Konoha to protect two missing nin, especially since I'm in the Bingo book" added Zabuza.

"Listen" called Midori-sempai "I have an idea"

All the people at the table looked at her.

"As you may know, recently Mist appointed a new Mizukage, due to 'internal affairs'" a short silence followed. By the look on their faces, only Anko-sensei knew what she was talking about, but seemed more interested on Midori-sempai's case, who now talked with a kind of defensive-lawyer serious tone "Not many know about it, but the previous Mizukage was being controlled by a 'mercenaries' organization whose members are missing ninjas from the different villages, thus making them declared enemies not only of the Hidden Leaf Village, but of the Hidden Mist Village as well. Seeing as this information has just recently seen the light, is easy to assume that during Zabuza's deflection he was bound to be seen as a criminal with murderous intents, instead of the patriot he was trying to be. Actually he was trying to free his village from said organization, but seeing the higher branches of power were being controlled, it was remarkably difficult to trust anyone. This is why only his apprentice was able to know the truth when he supported this 'seize of power', which actually was an attack to a common enemy of the ninja world. This means the crime Zabuza is accused of committing, was not a crime, but a desperate and solitary act to defend his village's autonomy. And since this organization is also Konoha's enemy, the village finds in him a potential ally which they support in order to obtain information and cooperation. Of course this situation is applied as well to Haku-kun, with the sole exception that first of all, he cannot be judged as a missing ninja, since he never took part of the official ranks of the Mist. He might be a criminal, but does not enter into the missing-nin category. Under these new circumstances, negotiations are in order. Their names must be cleared of any unfair accusations."

"What about the after-crimes? They haven't precisely had a peaceful life" asked Anko-sensei.

"Self defense and survival. What were they supposed to do with the enemies wanting to get their heads and their need to protect the truth of the conspirator behind their Kage? Besides, knowing nothing but ninja life what were they supposed to do for a living besides that which they did the best? They took the path they could" replied Midori-sempai.

Naruto-kun seemed really confused, and apparently so were our non-shinobi companions.

"But we know it's all lies" I added breaking the silence that was created.

"But the Hidden Mist doesn't" replied Midori-sempai.

"The professor won't believe it" said Anko-sensei.

"Profesor?" asked Tsunami-san.

"That's the title of the Hokage of the Leaf Village" explained Tazuna-san.

"Let me explain the situation to the Sandaime, I'm sure we'll come to an arrangement" finished Midori-sempai "Well, what do you say Zabuza?"

"Mmmm, what do you say Haku? You deserve a good life" said Zabuza to his young companion.

"My life is standing at your side Zubaza-san" answered the boy.

"Fine…We're going to try and be tree-huggers for a while then" said the ex-demon of the mist.

I wondered if Hokage-sama would like the result of this mission.

-------------------

And that it! Finally that Midori girl is starting to show her true colors! What will happen next?! With the new chapter we'll also begin a new arc! Aren't you existed?! I sure am! =D

Read & Review

Editor's note: I begin to think these notes are getting permanent. Sigh. Thanks to Hina the Half Heart. I can't believe I missed that one! I think I was too concentrated in different kinda mistakes. Thanks for the observation, I gotta be more careful. Thanks!

By the way, this chapter was specially messed (dunno if the author was out of it or what…) I might have missed more thing than usual. Hope not. Ja ne.


	23. Girl Day! Girl Pals! Girl Talent?

Hello! I'm sorry I'm so late with this chapter!!! I moved to Spain because of an academic exchange! So it was a little complicated for me to focus. But to make it up this chapter is more than 8.5k words long that's the record so far!

So with this chapter I begin a new development, one that is not focused on the storyline of the original story but in the relationship of the characters most like the "kids-arc". I hope you enjoy it!

This is a special chapter because the original voice of our heroine is making an appearance! Look forward to it!

As usually this chapter's editor, beta, style corrector and all that is Hikari no Okami

No more to say, enjoy! CHARGE!

* * *

Girl Day! Girl Pals! Girl Talent?

"There they are!" Anko-sensei almost cheered when the huge gates of the hidden village of the leaf could be seen in the distance, showing themselves over the trees of the surrounding forest in the fire country.

Our traveling group had two more people than when we left those walls (of course, Tazuna-san was our client, so he wasn't exactly part of our group: he was the objective) as now both of the mist ninja we had considered our enemies were walking alongside us as allies and even friends (at least to everyone else but me...I still felt afraid of them)

"So that is the village of Konoha, uh?" asked Zabuza, his large sword on his back

"It sure is different from Mist Village" acknowledged Haku with his usual pleasant smile, Midori-sempai walking happily by his side

The 'C' rank mission that turned to be an 'A' ranked one finished rather easily after that day in the bridge, but that was only logical with Naruto-kun and his clones helping at the construction site. Still, it had been very hard for all of us to say good bye to Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san, and Inari-kun, especially for Naruto-kun. The two boys had forged a pretty strong friendship. We parted wishing to see each other again in the future.

We reached the gates of the village just to meet some figures we weren't expecting to find, also returning from their mission.

"Kakashi~" greeted cheeky Anko-sensei.

"Yo! Anko" replied a silver haired man, his face was barely visible: the lower part was covered by a mask, and his left eye was covered by his head band, he used a long sleeved outfit with long pants, the usual ninja sandals, gloves on his hands and the vest that represented his rank as a Jounnin in the village… so that, basically, all you could see of his body was mainly his right eye…which seemed half-asleep, half bored.

Beside him was team seven...or at least most of it, as instead of Magoro Oshikuru, was Nakamura Azumi...why was she there???

Sasuke, as always, was looking kind of high and mighty, while Sakura, as usual, was looking dreamingly at him, and last but not least, Azumi was looking at Naruto-kun, again, as always. However, Azumi's and Sakura's outfit were not in 'as always' conditions. If my clothes were ripped, cut and damaged theirs were way worst: Their outfits were almost falling apart, and they were soiled and had marks of dust, blood, and mud. What had they been into?

"Coming back from a mission I see" continued Anko-sensei with a cat-like smile in her face. It was clear she knew this Kakashi-sensei person "Wasn't your team formed by two boys and a girl? What happened?"

"Long story made short: The other member hurt himself and this girl's sensei of was out on a mission so...she's substituting our usual member. You and your team appear to be doing the same" he replied. Then he noticed our companions, and even though his stance didn't change, the gaze of his single eye was completely different, it was sharp, and his killing intent was felt instantly, "what is the Demon of the Mist doing here?" he asked with a defiant voice. A chill ran down my spine, do all the ninjas in the world just HAD to use his nickname?

"Kehehehehe" laughed Zabuza sending other unpleasant feeling running from my head to my feet "Copy Ninja Kakashi" recognized the appealed "I'm here as a refugee of war"

"Don't play games with me" The silver haired jounin delivered an ultimatum right of the bat "I know you're a traitor to your country, your bounty in the bingo book is one of the biggest ones I've ever seen" Below his bandages Zabuza's keen smile could be perceived.

"Likewise" the missing nin whispered just loud enough to barely get it. Could Zabuza mean that Azumi's and Sasuke's teacher was one of those people Zabuza respected so much? Was he a ninja powerful enough to be added into the bingo book?

"Stop it both of you" interrupted Anko-sensei "We're all in the same team, right?"

"Same team? What do you mean?" asked with an edgy tone Kakashi-sensei.

"His story is truth… to some extent" joined the discussion Midori-sempai. "He's here as a potential ally, not as an enemy. We're on our way to talk with Sandaime-Hokage-sama and get our debriefing"

"Debriefing?" asked a little surprised Kakashi-sensei. "Were you asked to capture Zabuza, Anko?"

"Actually we were hired to protect someone, but we ran into some complications and had our skirmishes with Zabuza and his companion, Haku, here" answered our sensei.

"A mission with ninja as the enemy?" asked the male Jounin, again with his serious tone of voice.

"So it seems, but everything went ok in the end" replied Anko-sensei.

"Very surprising" I didn't understand what _exactly_ was that surprising of our mission.

"I know" but apparently Anko-sensei had "So, how was yours?"

"Mission? Well nothing interesting to report: a C rank mission to clean out a caravan route from a gang of regular bandits. Beside their numbers they were nothing special, but I have to admit they almost got us once. Actually, Sasuke here rescued these girls when we were in a pinch and then took care of the bandits with a fire jutsu, no wonder he's an Uchiha"

"Nothing but mere bandits, Teme?" provoked Naruto-kun "we had to fight real ninja in real battle!" he said proudly.

"Where you hurt Naruto-kun?" asked Azumi worried.

"Not too much, but the battle was fierce...a little more and…someone would have died" he said with a slightly sad tone of voice "but of course nothing a future Hokage couldn't get over! Right?" he recovered his energy in a split second "HAHAHA! How about you Azumi? You kicked some bandit's ass right?! Didn't get hurt, right?" So! He could ask _Azumi_ if she was hurt and he was ignoring _me_?!

"Well" Azumi lowered her head "I hate to admit it, but Sasuke did save us from a total wipe out. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't be here right now…the bandits were way more than we expected" she bit her lower lip "Even if they weren't ninja they were well organized and trained in combat and use of weapons…I'm considered a Weapon Master and I was able to merely waste 13 of them while Sasuke…" she felt in silence out of shame and regret.

"Sasuke-kun defeated more than 20 with a single jutsu…and he killed more than 50 of them by himself" continued Sakura "Kakashi-sensei got only 75, Sasuke had taken the rest by then"

Sasuke stared directly at Naruto-kun like saying "What're you going to do about that?" holding his gaze as the blonde looked back at him to the eye, neither of them even blinking.

Anko-sensei released a whistle "Wow, more than 150 bandits? Trained and organized? I guess it was only logical that such a mission would be assigned to your team. The Sharingan must have really been a great help"

I recognized the name of the Sharingan, it was the bloodline technique of the Uchiha Clan, it was said to be cousin to the Byakugan; but I had no idea about what kind of technique it was… it was clear that it was powerful, if Anko-sensei recognized that such a mission could only be achieved with the use of a technique only Sasuke would know. I could only imagine how was Naruto-kun feeling right now. Just when he felt like he was getting closer to his rival, that person went beyond his reach once again.

"Well, well" Anko-sensei broke the tension that was becoming palpable in the air "we better get moving right? C'mon, get moving, don't stay there Sunshine"

"yah..." accepted between his teeth Naruto-kun, he was frustrated...Azumi had always been stronger than him in the academy, and Sasuke had proven he was even stronger than Azumi. We left team seven at the gates of the village with a somewhat bad taste in the mouth.

We walked the populated streets of Konoha just fine, navigating through the village until we arrived at the Hokage tower, from which, through big window-walls the village entire was under the protective eye of the professor, Sarutobi-sensei, Hokage-sama.

We waited a few minutes while other ninja teams were summoned to assign them a mission or for debriefing. Naruto-kun was talking with Midori-sempai, and Haku-kun. I was just listening; it felt really awkward since he wouldn't direct any word for me.

Finally our turn came up. Hokage-sama was surprised about how things had turned out and in the end Naruto-kun and I were dismissed while the rest of our company was left in the room to discuss Zabuza and Haku's situation in detail. When we were on our way outside we were given a pair of envelopes which contained a lot of money, apparently the payment for an A class mission. If this was the income all jounin had it wasn't surprising a family with so many high ranked ninja like ours could maintain a house like the one we lived on.

Once we took a step outside I noticed that it was the first time in almost a week that both, Naruto-kun and myself, were completely by ourselves.

"Ano..." I tried to break the silence "etto, Narut-"

"Well! I'm going to Ichiraku's, I'm missing some of their ramen! I'll...uh...see ya later in the house 'kay Hinata?" and in a flash of orange light he disappeared.

"um...sure...I guess" I replied just to an empty space...he had said 'Hinata'...where did we lose our 'Hina-chan'? It was the first time he had used his fast movement technique just for the sake of using it, and it had been to get away from me ASAP...it was depressing.

I noticed my cheek felt weird, it was a little bit… wet? I took my hand to examine it and looked up looking for some rain clouds, but it was a clear day...maybe it was my imagination or maybe it WAS raining, but just for me...

I walked almost dragging my feet back to the house, reaching the gates of the Hyuuga compound in almost twice the time it usually took me. When I reached the front garden something took me by surprise.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" a green mass suddenly approached me at high speed!

"LEE-SAN! TIME OUT! TIME OUT!" I called kinda desperate, pulling my hand up in order to protect my face.

"Ara? Hinata-san?" Rock Lee stopped in the middle of his attack, passing by without harming me "Where is Naruto-kun? Is he not with you?"

"Well, no" I said trying to sound polite and as if it didn't affect me "he's in Ichiraku's, he wanted to eat some ramen...with haste"

"And he didn't take you along?" he inquired "that's not usual" he didn't need to say _that_ to me.

"I guess he just was in that much of a hurry" I said trying to smile...in some way I hadn't lied to him "It seems your mission went just fine too"

"Certainly! After all, this is the second year that we, Team Gai, are active ninja of the great village of Hidden Leaf!" he said with almost too much energy.

"Easy Lee, you'll overwhelm Hinata-chan here" scolded him the only girl on my cousin's team.

"Hello Tenten-chan" I said greeting her.

"Hey, how you doing? How was your mission?" she asked with a polite smile.

"Tiresome" I replied in the same tone "but everything went fine in the end"

"Excellent! Why don't we celebrate your success by running 50 laps around Konoha?!" Lee-san offered.

"She isn't like you!" Tenten slapped him on the back of his head "Didn't you hear she was tired?"

"I-it's ok, really, no need to hit Lee-san" I guess he was even more energetic than Naruto-kun in his own way "Is cousin alright?"

"Neji?" confirmed Tenten-chan "well, yes, you know him. We finished the mission and he returned without distractions. We were just escorting him here; after all, Lee wanted to spar with Naruto-kun, but he's not here and I was on my way to the commercial district that's close by"

"Are you going to buy something?" asked Lee-san a little surprised.

"Of course. All girls go shopping, you know? Even ninja ones! I wanted to checkout some blouses and a few scrolls, and mother asked me to compare the prices of certain items too, and-"

"Tenten-chan!" I said almost too high, both Lee-san and Tenten-chan looked at me surprised.

"...Y-yes?"

"If you're going to shop, would you please take me with you?!" I asked with more intensity than planned, but I really wanted to go.

"Uh, sure, you're welcome if you want to come along Hinata-chan"

"Thank you!" I said smiling and blushing a little bit.

* * *

I had to leave my stuff in my room and to change my travel clothes, but not even an hour and we were walking down the main street along which were all the important shops in Konoha, both for shinobi and civilian alike.

"It was really a surprise Hinata-chan, that you'd go all the way to actually ask me to come along when we have barely exchanged words" said Tenten-chan as we walked together

"Well you are constantly looking after my cousin, and your teammate is looking after Naruto-kun, so I think we should have a better relationship, don't you agree?" I asked her

"Hoh? I guess you're right" she said smiling "let's get along nicely, ok?"

"yes" I returned the smile. It was nice to relax after a tough mission.

We walked down the street, looking at the stores and entering whichever attracted our attention. We looked at all the things Tenten-chan had to and we also checked out several weapon shops, shinobi outfit tailorers, scroll vendors and of course clothing, shoes and accessories stores. It was in one of such clothing stores that I saw it: it was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, light violet fabric with small straps, white silver details in the chest, the waist and at the very end, with a gorgeous cut and style. However, it was excessively expensive as it was made by a very famous designer of the fire country. It cost almost all the money we had received from the A rank mission. I guess maybe I stared at it for too long.

"You know?" she asked me putting her hand behind her head, I waited in silence for her to continue "I never thought you'd ever ask me to come along"

"Why?" I questioned with curiosity.

"You seemed like a little too shy to me...but today you really look different, you know?" she said looking me in the eye.

"Different? How? I hope different is good!!!" I was suddenly worried by this 'different'

"Yes, yes, don't worry, different is great!" she said quickly "I mean, you seem more confident, you walk around more straight, you look somewhat more secure. I don't know...you look-" she suddenly fell silent and looked at me for a few seconds "Hinata-chan! Are you wearing make-up?!" she asked me really excited; I felt how the color rose to my cheeks and nodded.

"My teammate applied some for me every days we were away on our mission...she also combed my hair...and well, I was thinking that maybe this look would be better...the long hair down looks prettier than just tied up in a pony tail and the make-up, well, he looked more at me, Naruto-kun..."

"Why do you like him?" she asked somewhat bluntly

"Wha-? No-! I!- Well-! Actually-!" I tried to formulate an answer but nothing intelligible would come out

"It's ok, I know, I've seen the way you look at him" she explained. I was really embarrassed, if she knew just by looking a little at me how many other knew about my crush for him?

I answered her with a shy nod.

"So you want to wear make up and stuff to make him notice you more right?" again I nodded.

"Well I suppose I can help you with that a littl-"

"SHUT UP!" a loud yell interrupted her.

"NO, YOU SHUT UP! FOREHEAD GIRL!" I had an idea of who were yelling. We both turned our heads towards the source of noise to find Sakura and Ino face to face, making such faces I swore they would jump for each other's throat any second now. The scene was pretty uncomfortable for anyone so I decided to go and try to calm them down a little bit.

"Sakura, Ino!" I pleaded while putting myself between the two girls "please, stop, you're bothering everyone here with your quarrel" sadly my voice was barely hearable in amid their constant insults.

Tenten-chan was trying to help me stop them but they just wouldn't listen to reason. In the confusion Ino hit me in the chest with her elbow and sent me to the ground.

"ALL RIGHT!" yelled Tenten-chan really pissed and taking two fingers to her mouth she whistled so high that both girls stopped fighting and turned to see Tenten-chan with great surprise "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! IF YOU TWO GIRLS WANT TO KILL EACH OTHER I COULDN'T CARE LESS! BUT! IF YOU HURT SOMEONE AND INVOLVE BYSTANDERS THEN ITS TIME FOR YOU TO CONSIDER WHAT YOU'RE DOING! JUST LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO HINATA-CHAN HERE!" I was rubbing my chest a little to ease the pain while trying to stand up

"Oh my! Hinata!" Ino was the first to come to my aid "I'm so sorry! I didn't notice! It wasn't my intention to hurt you!" she was really worried "this big forehead girl is to blame for all of this" and there they went again.

"WHAT?!" Sakura was just about to start again when Tenten-chan stopped them.

"Don't you girls ever learn!?" she grabbed Sakura by the back of her collar preventing her from going towards Ino "you two really need to go sit down and fix your differences!"

...but that didn't work out well either

A quarter of an hour later we were sitting on the fenced terrace of a nearby cafe, the place was adorned with floral motives and the tea was delicious. We had asked for a round table, Sakura and Ino were sitting next to each other while Tenten-chan and I were sitting in front of them. But even if we had sit them together they weren't even looking at each other.

"Um...this wasn't a good idea either, right?" asked me in a whisper my brunette friend.

"Ano...no, I don't think so" was all I could answer. Sakura's and Ino's rivalry had some history by now.

Tenten-chan released a long sigh "Why can't you two get along?"

"That's not your problem" said Sakura "who are you?"

"Um, yes, etto, this is my friend, Tenten-chan, she's the teammate of a cousin of mine" I explained introducing her "like us she's a gennin. Tenten-chan these are Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura they attended to ninja academy with Naruto-kun and me"

"Hey, talking about that dumb blond, he's not with you Hinata?" asked Ino

"Yeah, where's Naruto? He's usually with you, right?" Sakura continued the interrogation 'More like I'm with him' I replied mentally

"Hey! Don't try to divert the attention from the matter at hand forehead! You're still going to pay!" demanded Ino

"WHAT?! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO STARTED THIS TOPIC!" answered yelling the pink haired.

"Girls take it easy, you are disturbing the other customers" suddenly Midori-sempai appeared in the middle of the two girls, who had already jumped to their feet and were ready to punch each other...clearly it was the first time that Tenten-chan, Sakura and Ino saw my teammate appearing like that as all three of them jumped in their place.

"You!!!" Sakura pointed her with a finger "You're that demon-woman who ashamed Sasuke-kun!"

"Demon-woman?" asked Midori-sempai entertained "Mi-do-ri, Sawamura Midori, that's my name. No need to call me a Demon, for I'm a human like all of you… just a _little_ bit older"

"Whatever!" said Ino "Sakura and I are going to settle this today!"

"Well if you're going to do this why not do it Konoha style?" proposed Midori-sempai taking out some advertising "Since... today a new Karaoke was inaugurated and presenting this advertising we'll get a discount" she finished smiling

"Yeah! Let's make this a singing battle!" cheered Ino excited

"Heh, you want to lose to my beautiful voice?" her opponent grinned "you're on"

Now I was the one who released a sigh. How had this become a karaoke battle? But, at least now they wouldn't jump for each other's throat.

* * *

Few minutes afterwards we were inside a karaoke room. Tenten-chan, Midori-sempai, Ino, Sakura and me. After a quick selection process they had agreed that the pink haired would start the battle and now Sakura was selecting her song.

"What's taking you so long Sakura?" teased Ino.

"Just shut up!" Sakura snapped back "I'm selecting my song, ok? You just wait patiently! Damn it!" replied Sakura while she browsed through the long list of songs that the karaoke had.

The place was pretty nice, it was a new building. The front desk was pretty nice and modern and the room we were now was very good as well: It had a long sofa which covered two walls of the small room, a little table was in the center, with a huge TV in front of it and a couple of microphones and remote controls to select the songs; snacks could be delivered to the room. Yep, it was a modern and nice place.

"Ah!" cheered Sakura "I love this song! This one will do!" she selected the song and stood up in front of us, the sound of an electric guitar filled the room through a pair of speakers placed on the corners of the room and Sakura moved the microphone closer to her as the lyrics were about to start.

"Well you're the real tough cookie with the long history  
Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me  
That's o.k., let's see how you do it  
Put up your dukes, let's get down to it!

Hit me with your best shot!  
Why don't you hit me with your best shot!  
Hit me with your best shot!  
Fire away!"

While she was singing she began a very simple choreography and beckoned Ino, as if taunting her, but the blond simply crossed her arms and blew a few bangs from her face.

"You come on with a come on, you don't fight fair  
But that's o.k., see if I care!  
Knock me down, it's all in vain  
I'll get right back on my feet again!

Hit me with your best shot!  
Why don't you hit me with your best shot!  
Hit me with your best shot!  
Fire away!"

She was doing extremely good! Her voice was perfect and her movements were in par with the rhythm, it was nearly as if the real singer was performing in front of us.

"You're going down Ino-Pig!"

"Well you're the real tough cookie with the long history  
Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me  
Before I put another notch in my lipstick case  
You better make sure you put me in my place

Hit me with your best shot!  
Come on, hit me with your best shot!  
Hit me with your best shot!  
Fire away!

Hit me with your best shot!  
Why don't you hit me with your best shot!  
Hit me with your best shot!  
Fire away!"

And so the song was finished. Tenten-chan, Midori-sempai and I clapped at her performance.

"Try to beat that _blondie_!" said Sakura going back to sit on the large couch.

"You'd better not cry when I wipe the floor with you!" Ino was now standing up and was instantly browsing through the list of songs. She selected the melody and turned around to look at us, a slow music began along with a chorus girl line of "_AAAAAAAH_...Kiss the girl" Ino prepared to sing

"Kiss the girl!

There you see her  
Sitting there across the way  
She don't got a lot to say  
But there's something about her  
And you don't know why  
But you're dying to try  
You wanna kiss the girl.

Yes, you want her  
Look at her, you know you do  
It's possible she wants you too  
There's one way to ask her  
It don't take a word, not a single word  
Go on and kiss the girl (kiss the girl)

Shalalalala  
My oh my  
Looks like the boy's too shy  
Ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Ain't that sad  
it's such a shame  
Too bad, you're gonna miss the girl  
go on and kiss the girl (kiss the girl)

Nows your moment  
Floating in a blue lagoon  
Boy, you better do it soon  
No time will be better  
She don't say a word  
And she wont say a word  
Until you kiss the girl (kiss the girl)

Shalalalala  
My oh my  
Looks like the boy's too shy  
Ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Ain't that sad  
it's such a shame  
Too bad, you're gonna miss the girl

Shalalalala  
Don't be scared  
You better be prepared  
Go on and kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Don't stop now  
Don't try to hide it how  
You wanna kiss the girl  
Go on and kiss the girl"  
(kiss the girl)  
(oh, ohnoo..)  
(kiss the girl, kiss the girl)

As the track continued to play Ino took a chance to recover her breath. She was perfect! She was gorgeous and her styling figure and marvelous appearance made it seem like she was gleaming! Her voice was completely flawless! Sakura would have a hard time beating this on her next round!

Also, as Sakura's song seemed to be aimed at Ino, the blond's song was directed to somebody else...maybe Sasuke-san?

"Lalalala, Lalalala  
Go on and kiss the girl  
Lalalala, Lalalala  
Go on and kiss the girl

Shalalalala  
My oh myyyyy  
Looks like the boy's too shy  
Ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Ain't that sad  
it's such a shame  
Too bad, you're gonna miss the girl

Lalalala, Lalalala  
(Go on and kiss the girl)  
Go on and kiss that girl!  
Lalalala, Lalalala  
(Go on and kiss the girl)  
Go on and kiss the girl  
Kiss the girl  
(Kiss the girl)  
Go on and kiss the girl"

There was no doubt for any of us...Ino had won this round...and even worst, beating her at this would be nearly impossible. She was as always the best. Our claps were completely justified.

"There you go Sakura, let's see if you can beat _this_ shot. But I'm warning you it's not my best...you're not worthy of that!" Ino taunted her back as the blue eyed sat back on the sofa.

Sakura was about to stand up again, but Midori-sempai interrupted her

"Hey how about letting us sing a song too?" suggested Midori-sempai "We won't be participating in the Karaoke battle...we'll just sing a little, It's more fun this way, right?"

"I agree!" said Tenten-chan "I always wanted to try Karaoke!" she gripped the microphone and checked out the list of songs, selecting one of them. Music began almost immediately.

"I got a lot to say to you  
Yeah, I got a lot to say  
I noticed your eyes are always glued to me  
Keeping them here  
And it makes no sense at all

They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies  
They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies

Crush  
Crush  
Crush  
Crush, crush  
(Two, three, four!)

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than this"

Even if her singing wasn't as pretty as Sakura's or Ino's her voice was clear and strong. The song fitted her style and apparently she was having a lot of fun. She was glowing on her own right...and in her special single way.

"If you want to play it like a game  
Well, come on, come on, let's play  
Cause I'd rather waste my life pretending  
Than have to forget you for one whole minute

They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies  
They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies"

Even Sakura and Ino were watching and listening to her singing, her song was amazing, very powerful, just like her.

"Crush  
Crush  
Crush  
Crush, crush  
(Two, three, four!)

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than this now

Rock and roll, baby  
Don't you know that we're all alone now?  
I need something to sing about  
Rock and roll, hey  
Don't you know, baby, we're all alone now?  
I need something to sing about  
Rock and roll, hey  
Don't you know, baby, we're all alone now?  
Give me something to sing about

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than  
No, oh

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than  
More than this  
Ohoh ohoh ohoh  
Oooh..."

Everyone clapped this time. Tenten-chan was awesome.

"Very good, Tenten-chan!" I cheered happily; the brunette blushed a little and smiled. We all knew she wasn't fit for a karaoke battle, but her singing would someday make someone pretty happy.

"My turn!" Said with a cheeky voice Midori-sempai while standing up and taking the microphone politely from Tenten-chan. As the white haired girl checked out the song list looking for one to sing, the brown eyed one came and took a sit by my side.

"You were very good there" I said smiling to her.

"It was nothing really, these girls did better than me" replied the older girl

"No, no, it was very good...Tenten, right? You're a terrific singer" complimented her Sakura.

"Yeah, it was very good! Not like me of course, but still it was amazing" added Ino.

"Oh my god!" Midori-sempai seemed very happy "I can't believe they have this song! So nostalgic!" as she selected the song the sound of an acoustic guitar filled the room.

"AAH, AAAH  
AAH, AAH, AAAH

Sé muy bien a dónde vas  
También sé donde guardas tus secretos  
Sé muy bien lo que hay detrás  
De esa fiera que aparenta desgarrarme y sé muy bien.

[I know very well where you're going

I also know where you keep your secrets

I know very well what's behind

Of that beast that seems to rip me apart and I know pretty well]

Lo que hay en tu piel  
Lo que hay en toda tú  
Lo que hay en tu ser  
Que me hace querer

[What's in your skin

What's in all of you

What's in your being

That makes me want]

Quererte invitar, a dónde no sé  
Y estando a tu lado ver el amanecer  
Solo quiero una oportunidad  
Solo quiero esta noche poder cantar en tu boca

[Want to ask you out, where to, I don't know

and standing next to you watch the dawn

I just want a chance

I just want to sing in your mouth tonight]

No quiero saber hoy de nadie más  
Si el mundo se acaba, la verdad me da igual  
Sólo quiero un poco de lluvia,  
una bonita luna y poder cantar en tu boca.

[Today I don't want to know about anyone else

If the world comes to its end, I really don't care.

I just want a little bit of rain,

a nice moon-sight and to be able to sing in your mouth]

AAH, AAH, AAAH  
SOLO QUIERO PODER CANTAR EN TU BOCA  
AAH, AAH, AAAH  
SOLO QUIERO PODER CANTAR EN TU BOCA

[AAH, AAH, AAAH

I just want to sing in your mouth.

AAH, AAH, AAAH

I just want to sing in your mouth.]"

Even if she was singing in a foreign language the TV screen presented a translation of the lyrics so that we could understand. Her singing was perfect, as good as Ino's, even if her voice sounded a little bit grave, you could say even male-like, but it since the original singer was a male she sounded just fine.

"Sé muy bien lo que piensas,  
lo que dices, lo que callas,  
lo que escondes.  
Y no puedo resistir  
tu mirada ni las ganas que tengo de descubrir

[I know very well what you think,

what you say, what you keep silent,

what you hide

And I can't resist

your gaze nor the desire I have to discover]

Lo que hay en tu piel  
Lo que hay en toda tú  
Lo que hay en tu ser  
Que me hace querer

[What's in your skin

What's in all of you

What's in your being

That makes me want]

Quererte invitar, a dónde no sé  
Y estando a tu lado ver el amanecer  
Solo quiero una oportunidad  
Solo quiero esta noche poder cantar en tu boca

[Want to ask you out, where to, I don't know

and standing next to you watch the dawn

I just want a chance

I just want to sing in your mouth tonight]

No quiero saber hoy de nadie más  
Si el mundo se acaba, la verdad me da igual  
Sólo quiero un poco de lluvia,  
una bonita luna y poder cantar en tu boca.

[Today I don't want to know about anyone else

If the world comes to its end, I really don't care.

I just want a little bit of rain,

a nice moon-sight and to be able to sing in your mouth]

AAH, AAH, AAAH  
Sólo quiero poder cantar en tu boca  
AAH, AAH, AAAH  
Sólo quiero poder cantar en tu boca

[AAH, AAH, AAAH

I just want to sing in your mouth

AAH, AAH, AAAH

I just want to sing in your mouth]

AAH, AAH, AAAH

AAH, AAH, AAAH"

"WOW!" Tenten-chan cheered really excited! "That was something!" everyone was clapping too.

"Midori-sempai? What language was that?" I questioned curiously

"Oh that!" repeated Midori-sempai "that's some language from the west...but don't worry about it. It's your turn Hinata-chan" she said offering the microphone to me.

"Me? N-n-n-no I can't, my voice i-isn't that g-good!" my stuttering had returned, as every time I was nervous. Singing? Me? I don't think so!

"Come on, Hinata, we all did it already. It's your turn!" supported Sakura.

"Yeah! You're not going to ditch us on this one, right?" asked me Ino

I knew they wouldn't let me off the hook. With reluctance I stood up and took the microphone from the offering hand of Midori-sempai. I had never ever ever sang in front of anyone! I didn't even do it alone that much!

_What should I do?! What should I__ do?! _I kept screaming in my mind _I'm going to be terrible!_

I finally found a song I knew, it wasn't exactly famous, but still was the only one I thought I might sing decently enough. I clicked for it to start and turned around. As the intro music started a monitor behind the girls turned on. I took a deep breath and felt my heart racing. The lyrics began to appear slowly...I was feeling more and more nervous, it was the time to start singing...

_PERSEVERANCE!_ I shouted at myself and began singing.

"Open your shiny eyes in the silent night fushigi na yoru maiorita ashioto tatezu shinobiyoru nayamashi ge na kuro neko no POOZU tsuki akari wo se ni ukabu SHIRUETTO kocchi e oide to hohoende temaneki

[Open your shiny eyes in the silent night  
The wonderous night swooped dow

filled with the sound of footsteps

from a stealthy, desirous black cat's paws.

The floating sillouette in the moonlight

said 'Let's go this way' with a beckoning smile]"

"WOOOOOH!" cheered Tenten-chan… she was really excited. Midori-sempai was smiling and Ino and Sakura...well I couldn't decipher their expression.

"yokubou no kage ugomeku machi tenshi no furi de samayoi taisetsu sou ni kakaeteru ikiba no nai ai no kakera

[A shadow of desire covered the squirming city

as the wandering angel descended.  
The shards of love in the precious thoughts I cradled in my arms

weren't of our destination]

nemuri ni tsuku koro anata mo dokoka de shiawase na yume o mite iru no hoshizora ni KISU o shite ii ko wa mou oyasumi

[When the time comes when you're also sleeping somewhere,

are you dreaming sweet dreams?  
Kiss me as we rest in the starry sky.]

mitsumenaide tsukamaenaide mayoikonda BATAFURAI jiyuu utau dare ni mo mienai hane kakushiteru no anata no mune no oku

[you can't see, you can't catch

the labyrinth butterfly  
The wings in your concealed chest sing of freedom

even for the people who can't see them]"

As I saw how more and more excited Tenten-chan got I started feeling more confident about my singing, and even Sakura and Ino cheered me.

"You're doing very good Hinata!" said Ino

"You rock!" added an excited Sakura

"kagami no naka no omokage wa nakimushi datta ano koro dakeredomou kodomo ja nai nobashita kami wo hodoita

[The face reflected in the mirror was

a crybaby back then,

but I'm not a child now.  
I undo my now-long hair]

mune wo shimetsukeru amai FUREGURANSU yuuwaku shiteru kizuite iru kotoba wo nakushita kuchibiru ni mahou kaketa no [My chest tightens as I realize

a sweet fragrance is tempting me  
The lost words were magically put on my lips]

mitsumenaide tsukamaenaide mayoikonda BATAFURAI itoshi sugite taisetsu sugite kowarete shimau watashi no mune no kagi

[you can't see, you can't catch

the labyrinth butterfly  
Go past the precious things, go past the important things  
Break and destroy the key to my heart]"

All of them were clapping by now, Midori-sempai was even dancing in her sit and Tenten-chan and Sakura even whistled from time to time. Even if it was reassuring, it was making my cheeks pretty hot. "sagashi tsuzukeru jibun no SUTOORII unmei ni mekakushi sarete mo kono kumo o tsukinuke haruka na asu e to habataku

[I continue to search for my own story  
Until the blindfold that conceals my fate is removed

I'll pierce through these clouds with my wings and go to the distant tomorrow ]

mitsumenaide tsukamaenaide mayoikonda BATAFURAI negai matoi tobitatsu mienai hane kakushiteru no anata no mune no oku

[you can't see, you can't catch

the labyrinth butterfly  
These targeted, feathered wings will take a long leap

unseen, out of your concealed chest.]"

And so it was finally over. It had been fun, but still it was very embarrassing. I wouldn't do it again, at least, not in a long, long while!

"WOW!" Ino almost shouted in my ear. All the girls stood up to receive me back.

"Hinata! That was amazing!" said Sakura cheering me while holding my hands.

"Yes! If you ever get bored of the ninja life you can always be an idol!" assured Tenten-chan

"N-no way!" I answered her "me? An idol? No way! Haha I'm not that pretty"

"Give a fiveyear" added Midori-sempai "trust me, you'll be pretty enough to join the Miss Fire Country contest. But anyway, that song was beautiful"

"Yes it was!" supported her Sakura "Hinata, why don't you join the talent show?"

"What?! No! I couldn't never do it again! I was so nervous! Imagine if I had to sing in front of so many people!"

"Come on!" said Ino sitting back in the sofa. I wished I'd stop being the center of the attention, but Sakura wouldn't let me.

"Say Hinata" she started dropping her body on the sofa "How's it going with Naruto?"

"Yeah!" Ino suddenly recovered the interest "You are in his team right?!"

"A-ano...y-yes" _please no, anything but that!!_

"And?!" Ino was pressing me a little.

"And...n-nothing" was my answer in some way it wasn't a lie...right?

"You mean nothing has happened?" asked Sakura.

"W-why would anything happen?" this was even more embarrassing.

"C'mon!" exploded Sakura "We know you like that blond fool since like, ever"

"I-I-I well...etto!" I could feel how my color was rising "HOW COME EVERYONE KNOWS THAT?!" I asked almost crying

"Uh...Hinata-chan?" tried to explain Tenten-chan "It's very obvious"

"I'm afraid everyone, but the object of you affection is aware of your feelings..." said Midori-sempai

"But don't worry!" added Ino standing up "we will help you, we can even give you some advise!" she said hitting her chest lightly with her fist.

"Etto..." this was just about to become even more embarrassing... "actually...I've already… confessed..."

Utter silence

"WHAT?!" Ino, Sakura, and Tenten-chan yelled in surprise and even Midori-sempai seemed caught off guard.

"And what did he said to you!?" asked Ino.

"How was it?!" asked one second later Sakura.

"Why didn't you told me?" now it was Tenten-chan. This interrogation was kind of oppressive.

"...He...! hasn't given me an answer...yet" was all I could say.

"I don't get that fool" Ino was again losing interest in the topic.

"You know?" called Midori-sempai "maybe you can ask him again, but this time with a song" she pulled out a flyer of the Talent Show.

"Yes!" Tenten-chan was clearly interested. "You know how little animals respond to music? Maybe it will work!"

"No!" I said trying to persuade them from the Talent Show idea, again. "Really, I have no intention to take part in some Talent Show!"

"Your friend, that girl, Azumi, will be" added Midori-sempai

That stung me...I remembered Habataku's words _"Do you want some other girl like Sakura or Azumi to take him?"_

"S-still....I'm not really comfortable about standing in front a lot of people" I said trying to excuse me from them...but somehow it was more like I was using it as an excuse for myself. "But hey! What's happened with your Karaoke Showdown?" I asked trying to change the topic.

"You're kidding, right?" asked Ino.

"There's no way we're going to stand there again today Hinata" explained Sakura "You won the Karaoke Showdown"

"WHAT?!!!!"

* * *

Later on we left the Karaoke and returned to the commercial district for Tenten-chan to pick up some weapons the blacksmith was sharpening. That's where I saw them: Naruto-kun and Azumi walking together. Azumi was hugging Naruto-kun's arm... I felt a little fire starting in my stomach as I saw them. From the direction they were walking surely Naruto-kun had found Azumi at Ichiraku's...or maybe she had gone looking for him.

They were just looking at the store windows, Azumi seemed interested in cloths and weapons and Naruto just in the later, until they stopped in front of the dress I had found earlier today.

"Waaaaah!" admired Azumi "it's so beautiful"

Naruto-kun just whispered something and because of the distance I couldn't hear him. Still, I was able to read his lips: "I bet she'd look fantastic in this thing"

I turned around, calling my teammate "Midori-sempai!" I wouldn't lose him, not to her! Not to anyone! "Where can I register for the Talent Show?!"

* * *

Hinata makes up her mind! To obtain a bright future she's willing to fight and risk everything!

And that's it!!!

I hope you enjoyed it!

The songs were these ones!

Sakura: Hit me with your best shot – Pat Benatar

Ino: Kiss the girl – Ashley Tisdale

Tenten: Crushcrushcrush – Paramore

Midori: Cantar en tu boca (Sing in your mouth) – Carlos Ballesteros

Hinata: Meikyo Butterfly (Labyrinth Butterfly) – Nana Mizuki


	24. Enter Kohaze!

Hello guys!!

Yeah, i know the chapter is late, i'm sorry about that i got a little case of writer's block...it sucks i know.

Anyway the chapter is here, it's not as long as i'd liked but at least i wanted to give you people something.

Thanks to Dusk Eclipse for proof reading it and to Hikari no Okami for doing the final Beta, editing, grammar checking, and etc. We love you people

Be sure to read the final note too please!

CHARGE!!!

* * *

Enter Kohaze!

I was sighing all my way back to the house

"What's the matter Hina-chan?" Habataku asked me.

"It's been a long day, you know?" I said with a kind of sad ring on my voice "I'm tired"

"...Of shopping?" asked Habataku after a long silence.

"I couldn't even buy the makeup or other things I wanted to buy" I replied getting a little depressed. I hadn't bought anything, so I couldn't be tired of shopping...

"...then, tired of singing?"

"I only sang once, even when they all tried to make me do it again, but it's too shameful."

...nor tired of singing

"...then why did you join that talent show thing?"

"I-I...I...I don't know!" I said rising my voice, and then I felt sudden pain as I remembered Azumi walking side by side with Naruto-kun, even holding him. My knees suddenly felt weak.

"...You do know...don't you?..Hina-chan?" she asked motherly.

"...It's the first time" I said acknowledging "it's the first time since...he moved to live with me...that he has ignored me, that I had to spend a day without him..."

"So, it's been a long day..?" started asking me again Habataku

"Without...Naruto-kun?" I replied tentatively.

"Without the man you love!" yelled at me Habataku.

"L-l-l-l-love?!" instantly my face was burning hot "w-w-w-well I-I! Y-yes! I m-mean!"

"Things won't go easy as long as you don't accept it yourself and stand proud of your feelings"

"I know..." I said "but...it's not that easy for me...to admit that I love Naruto-kun. Besides, even then, I am aware that there's little to no chance of him changing his answer, no matter how many times I ask him, or how different I ask each time"

"His answer?" questioned puzzled Habataku

"It's very obvious isn't it?" I said forcing myself to smile "he has rejected me. What other reason would he have to avoid me?"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT AGAIN HYUUGA HINATA!" suddenly her voice rumbled in the whole street, thank god it was nearly deserted!

"Habataku! Lower your voice! They'll discover you!" I begged

"I couldn't care less! Now listen to me young miss!" she said in a very rash tone of voice "Don't you dare give up yet, ok? You deserve him, understood? So hang in there! Until he gives you his final answer the fight is still on, do you understand?"

"H-hai!" I said standing straight...was my mother scolding me?!

"Then let's go to the house and get some rest" her strong tone disappeared completely "we have lots of planning to do for the talent show!" she even seemed kinda happy "We have to be off early tomorrow, we don't want to leave the other girls waiting, do we?"

That was right; Midori-sempai had offered her house to us so we could meet there and prepare everything.

* * *

OoOoOoOoO

"So, See ya girls tomorrow" said Tenten-chan

"Wait wait!" stopped her Ino "We have to organize something for tomorrow! We have to plan Hinata's act in the talent show!"

"P-plan?!" I demanded '_God this is going to be troublesome...and awkward!'_

"You're right Ino" accepted Sakura "but where?"

"Well..." Midori-sempai called our attention "if it's ok with you we can do it in my house. It's not that big, but I think we can fit in my room just fine"

"OK!" cheered Sakura "so it's settled!"

* * *

OoOoOoOoO

And so we had to meet tomorrow at midday in Midori-sempai's house. Yes, it was going to be a long day.

I finally reached the gates of the Hyuuga clan and entered the front yard, which basically only had a large tree between the walls and the house, since all the gardens were in the backyard. I took a step inside the house and before I could even announce my arrival Sora-nee-san ran to me and hugged me.

"Sora...-nee-san?" I asked a little confused; I saw how Naruto-kun came out of the house following her sister.

"Naruto told me all which happened in your mission" her voice...trembled? Suddenly her hug was more of an aggressive grapple, and I started to feel the pressure "You guys were damn thoughtless!"

She suddenly released me and I gasped for air to refill my abused lungs, she then turned around and grabbed Naruto-kun by the wrist, sending him flying and then stomping him on the ground. Could it be that he received both his and my shares of punishment?!

"Not only did you pick a fight that you weren't ready for, but as far as I heard you forgot basic rules!"

Sora-nee-san seemed to be trying to hold her temper, but I thought it wouldn't last, since Naruto-kun had just got that stubborn look of his as he stood up.

"But we won! And we didn't forget anything! We used our training, both yours and Anko-sensei´s!" Sora-nee-san gritted her teeth and now her eyes seemed to blaze... I gulped.

"Of course! You remember a bunch of techniques and you think you have not forgotten a thing! What about rankings? What about knowledge of course of action when going against someone stronger? As far as I'm concerned you tried to get an ANBU! A DAMN ANBU! and without even backup? Come on little bro, I had thought your brain had caught more of the rules. You may be good, but even the best ninja needs teamwork, and backup is a basic rule in any possibly dangerous mission!"

I saw Naruto kun struggling for an answer, and luckily I had one. I didn't like it when she got so angry, even if it was out of worry.

"Sora-nee-san... ano, how were we supposed to have backup? It was supposed to be a C ranked mission" And her gaze changed direction to lock with mine. Suddenly she seemed more perplexed than angry.

She looked up while thinking. "You might be right Hinata-chan" suddenly a smirk had come to her face. It was the kind of smile you were nervous about because you didn't know if it meant something good or something really bad.

"Aaand, that's why I think I'll give you both something" the smirk didn't left her face as she bit her thumb; we were both curious about this new development. She made some clear seals "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

A poof was heard and behind a cloud of smoke came quite a big bird, it easily could reach my knee, 20 inches tall I'd say. It had fearsome talons and an aggressive peak. I recognized the shape as falcon-like, but still it looked somewhat cute with its feathers all soft looking. Most of it had a deep brown chocolate color, reaching the area around the onix black eyes, but its chest and front area were a light cream tone. It had some spots of the darker color on in its chest and as the smoke cleared I could appreciate something quite intelligent on its gaze as it observed each of us. He was wearing a dark blue sleeveless haori and a wakizashi.

"Let me introduce you to Kohaze" Sora-nee-san said with a smirk.

"Ossu" the bird raised a wing as it… greeted?

"The bird talked!" Naruto-kun was more straightforward.

"Hey! I'm not any bird. In fact I EAT other birds, thank you"

"He's a falcon, kids, and from today on your escort"

"What?" two voices sounded: Naruto-kun's and Kohaze's, the bird got all puffed and suddenly, despite the natural weapons it carried, it looked fluffy, huggable and nice.

"Wait a minute here, even if I were to accept this task you're asking me all of a sudden...You know we, falcons, never do anything for free!" replied Kohaze

"I'm aware, that's why I'm giving you one mouse a day!" offered Sora-nee-san

"5 a day" bargained Kohaze

"3 per day no more"

"3 daily and a rabbit per week"

"A rabbit per month" accepted Sora-nee-san

"And I want all week-ends free" stated the hawk

"One free weekend per month, and I'll pass good word of you to the higher ups"

"I agree" accepted Kohaze.

_...Just what had __**that**__ been?_

"Nee, what will a little bird like this do?" asked sceptically Naruto-kun.

"This little bird is a capable ninja" informed Sora-nee-san.

"WHAT?! NO WAY?!" was the surprised answer from the boy "It doesn't look that strong!"

"Neither do you" replied with a teasing smile the older girl.

"Shut up! I'll prove you this bird won't do any good!" Naruto-kun now charged at Kohaze with his palm open, as if trying to slap him. But in a swift movement Kohaze took off and grabbed Naruto-kun by the shoulder, suddenly tossing him into the skies. Poor Naruto-kun landed kind of badly in the front yard, but still stood up completely covered in dust.

"I'd stop now if I were you" warned him the bird.

"Nah, it's good" assured Sora-nee-san "I think it's better to show why I chose you" she flashed a confident smile.

"Roger that!"

"Don't get cocky on me!" yelled Naruto-kun as he made a cross-seal "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" 8 more blonds appeared in the yard "CHARGE!" yelled all of them at unison, soon to be stopped on their tracks. Kohaze in a split second was in front of the real Naruto-kun with the handling of his sword placed on his forehead. And with a push he sent the blond flying towards the tree at was behind him, crashing against it. All the clones suddenly disappeared. It had been so fast I had no idea how I had managed to see it. He had hit each of the clones in the head with the scabbard of his sword as he flew pass them, just to then push the real one into the tree. His speed was above Azumi's, no, maybe even above Sasuke's!

"Even if Kohaze is still learning he's very strong" said Sora-nee-san walking to stand next to the bird "I'd say he's around Chunnin level"

"WHAT?!" Naruto-kun stood up again "This thing is as strong as Iruka-sensei?!"

"I've got a name!" demanded the falcon "And you are very impolite to attack without stating your own!"

"Why! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage!" stated proudly the young blond "and I need no bodyguard to take care of myself" he said with a fist banging his chest "nor to take care of..." as both his hand and face turned to point me I could see how red his face was turning. Apparently he was very angry, he still had problems facing defeat... "...of anybody!" he finally stated, and he turned around fuming. Sora-nee-san sighed.

"That boy...he sure needs to mature some more"

"Is something the matter?" my father came out of the house with his usual serious expression

"Nah, everything is ok" assured Sora-nee-san "By the way, Hiashi-san, this is Kohaze, he'll be watching over the kids from now on"

"You appointed a bodyguard to my daughter without my consent?" He questioned rising and squeezing his eyebrows a little "And you should call me Hyuuga-sama"

"Hyuuga Hiashi-sama" Kohaze quickly made a reverence "It is an honor to take care of your older daughter, I will not fail you, my lord" my father's expression relaxed but remained serious.

"At least he has some manners. Just make sure to stay out of trouble" and without any other comment he returned to the house. I had thought Sore-nee-san was the only person capable of getting her way with father, one way or the other.

"Well then, it's settled and approved, although the last part doesn't really matter to me" she said cleanning her hands "well then Hinata-chan, off you go"

"Come Hinata-hime-sama, I'll see you to your room" said Kohaze standing beside me in a kind of gallant way.

"Uh...sure, thank you" it was strange to be talking to a bird. I turned around, looking in the direction Naruto-kun had left...at least I had been able to see him for a short while.

The next morning I went to our usual morning training session with Sore-nee-san, even if it was Sunday and we had no missions she insisted on keeping up our training on a strict daily basis. Not even Christmas was a free day for her. Kohaze was following me closely, flying besides me in the same way he had since yesterday. He hadn't separated from me except when I took a shower, time when he dandily offered himself to make guard outside, and when I put on my pajamas, when he gently went outside the room waiting for me to be ready. However in a sharp contrast with Kohaze's presence was Naruto-kun's absence. Apparently today he was going to be doing his exercises on his own, close by and under the supervision of my father. It seemed Naruto-kun was even willing to stand my father's and Hanabi's training instead of being with me.

"Cheer up Hinata!" scolded me Sora-nee-san "we have to get started or we'll be here all morning!" she said ratter rashly as she lead me to our usual training ground in the Hyuuga haven "I'm sure he's giving his best for _someone _special" she said in a softer tone.

_'...Yeah, Azumi I'd bet...'_

"Smile Hina-chan!" cheered up Habataku "Posstive thinking calls for positive happenings" she was always so confident; I could never be like her...

A couple of hours later I was getting ready to meet up with the other girls at Midori-sempai's, and right there I saw him, he was talking with Lee-san.

"YOSH! LET'S DO IT THEN! NARUTO-KUN!" the black haired boy was as usual full of energy; he was jogging in his place "OH! GOOD MORNING! HINATA-SAN!" he said raising a hand to greet me, before turning again for the blue eyed "I GUESS I'LL GO FIRST THEN" he told him moving his head in my direction "DON'T BE LATE!" With that he left the housing, jumping and running at full speed.

"HEY! MATTE!" demanded Naruto-kun, it was clear that he had noticed me, but he was ready to follow after the older boy

"Chotto! Naruto-kun!" I pleaded for him to stay; he almost tripped as he stopped.

"Yeah?"

"I...W-well" his response was just so...cold? "How did your training go?" I just had to ask the first thing that came to my mind in order to break the uncomfortable silence I was creating.

"HUH? Uh, fine I guess...I gotta catch Fuzzy Brows. We're going to spar a bit" he was once again ready to take off.

"I'M GOING TO...!" I said a little bit too loud, with a trace of desperation in my voice, I wanted be able to be with him even if it was just a bit more "I'm going to Midori-sempai's home with Tenten-chan, Ino, and Sakura" I told him, trying to make him interested in something having to do with me.

"I see, give them my greetings then! I'm off"

"Please...!" but in a flash of orange he was gone "...Wait..." my voice trailed off as I once again ended up talking to the air "he left..." feeling a tiny moisture in my cheek I took my hand to it to clean it up. The sky was almost cloudless but nonetheless I returned to get an umbrella, while my head flew with delusions of walking under it with a certain Uzumaki boy.

Midori-sempai's house was in the civilian district of the city, close by to the thermals. It was a simple but nice two story house, regular for a middle class family. Tenten-chan was already there.

"HINATA-CHAN!" she called me waving his hand, I went to meet her.

"Good morning Tenten-chan, how are you?" I asked her as friendly as I could, trying not to sound too cheeky.

"Good as always!" she said flexing her arms "what's up with that bird? And what's the umbrella for?"

"This? Oh I just felt something on my cheek this morning so I thought maybe I should take it with me" I explained "and this little hawk here is my new bodyguard, Kohaze"

"A pleasure, miss Tenten" said Kohaze landing and bowing deeply, then taking Tenten hand he placed it on his forehead "Kohaze the hawk at your service no matter when no matter where"

"Thank you... I guess. By the way, the weather report didn't mention anything about rain...after all this is fire country, right?"

"Even so I..." before I could explain anything a large noise interrupted me.

"!" in the distance a large cloud of dust was coming towards us.

"What is that?!" asked Tenten-chan as she took a couple of steps forward and used her hand to cover her eyes from the sun, but even without my Byakugan I could see it perfectly: Ino and Sakura were running at top speed toward us, locked in a stare contest.

"Watch out!" I warned and moved myself out of the way. Both girls stopped right in front of us, panting and sweating, holding themselves on their knees

"*gasp*....Who *gasp* got here *gasp* first?" they at asked at the same time

"I don't know" replied Tenten-chan raising an eyebrow.

"Hinata! *gasp* Who won?!"

"Ano!..Etto...it's...a tie?" I proposed

"NEVER!" they both yelled "I'll never accept that I tied with you!" I wondered if they had 'Coordinated Yelling' in the Shinobi Olympics, these two would win no doubt.

"Hey, please try not to bother the neighbors, I still have to live here you know?" Midori-sempai was standing at the door of her house and came to us crossing the tiny front yard of her house, opening the front gate (that was little more than a fence) to us "come in, let's try not to disturb the neighbors anymore" her outfit was gorgeous, she was wearing a white long sleeved blouse with chocolate tones in the chest area and collar, a peach colored pleated mini skirt and tall brown styling boots. Not even Ino who was wearing a cute blue minidress could beat her.

"Oh my god!" screamed the blond girl "is that..! That blouse..!"

"This?" asked Midori-sempai picking up the cloth from her blouse by the shoulder "just something I found flipping over a magazine the other day, as we just recently got paid for a mission I went out yesterday and bought it" she explained with a smile _'so that was the reason of her presence in the commercial district yesterday ' _"are you coming in?" she asked us, her white bangs floating with the wind "By the way Hinata, since when do you summon hawks?" despite being flying Kohaze heard that and landed softly next to me.

"Do you mean about him?" I asked pointing Kohaze "he was appointed as my bodyguard yesterday. His name is Kohaze. You know, after the incidents in wave country..."

"I understand. It's a pleasure to meet you" she said to the bird. How had Midori-sempai noticed it was a summoned animal?

"I see, I was wondering about it too" mentioned Sakura.

"My ladies" called the bird "if you need anything, anything at all just say it, and I'll do it for you" he said with a somewhat flirting tone of voice.

"Thanks, at least he's cute" accepted Ino as we walked into the house.

As we came into the house we reached a medium sized room, that served as living room and dining room, and was separated from a small the kitchen by a bar. The floor was made of polished wood and the walls were painted in light colors, allowing the place to be brightly illuminated.

"Oh the girls are here already!" A middle aged woman came to greet us.

"Mom these are Tenten, Ino, Sakura, and my teammate Hinata; girls this is my mother" introduced us the older girl.

I would finally be able to learn a little bit more about Midori-sempai!

* * *

And that's it for today! I know it's not as long as the last one, but still its decently long

So! I'm starting a contest! In this chapter half of a scene was written by Okami, if someone finds out which part it is I'll give him or her a fabolous prize: the introduction of a gennin created by said person for the chunnin exam arc!!!

Good luck!! and please Read & Review!!! Tell me what do you think about Kohaze! And i'm sure that Okami'll appreciate if you find anything we missed about spelling and grammar!


	25. Mother and Daughter

Well I'm back!!! I know the chapter is really late! I'm sorry!!!

But anyway it's here already so please spare me!

As usually the beta for this chapter was Okami-chan so be thankful to her :D

ON WITH IT!

* * *

Mother and Daughter

"Oh! The girls are here already!" said the middle aged woman who came out of the small kitchen.

She had dark purple hair and brown eyes; she was slender yet petite, she wasn't much taller than Midori-sempai, and in contrast with her daughter's outfit, hers was simpler and more conservative. She was wearing a simple brown blouse and a pale blue long skirt.

"Girls, this is my mother, Sawamura Tabitha, mom these are Tenten,"

"Good day, nice house" complimented Tenten-chan

"Ino,"

"A pleasure" said the blond

"Sakura,"

"Thanks for receiving us at your house ma'am" added the green eyed

"Hinata, who happens to be my teammate" I only bowed not really knowing what to say "and the falcon is Kohaze, Hinata's escort"

"I'm sorry for crowding your house my lady" said Kohaze to Midori-sempai's mom, landing in front of her and bowing deeply.

"Oh my! I didn't know ninjas had talking animals, aren't you the cute one?!" she said crouching in front of the bird and grabbing with her index and thumb one of his wings, stretching it to see all of its feathers.

"Please, dear lady, don't do that!" pleaded Kohaze trying to free himself.

"We'll be in my room" informed Midori-sempai leading us upstairs together.

"Ok! I'll take some tea and cookies up in a while" stated her mother not letting the hawk go

"That would be great, thanks mom"

"Come on Mister Hawk, let's prepare some tea for the girls" poor Kohaze didn't look like he was enjoying being the 'new' pet of Mrs. Sawamura.

Midori-sempai walked in front of us taking us upstairs where we found four doors close to each other, each leading to a different direction. The white haired opened a door and stood aside waiting

"Please come in, it's not that much, but make yourselves comfortable" she offered.

Her room was amazing. Although it wasn't as large as mine it had lots of things on it: In the middle of the room there was a large round tapestry on the floor that featured all the colors of the rainbow, but was mostly covered by the multiple furniture of the room. The bed was in front of the door across the room, to the left of the door was the wardrobe. Besides the bed was a small desk, lastly but not least in front of the desk was a small tea table with several puffs around it. Every surface featured several stuffed animals and dolls of all kind, and the walls and ceiling had several posters of various cartoons and anime on them. The room and the furniture were painted in pastel tones.

Not only the room yelled 'girly' but it was radically different to mine, which was plain and mostly empty. All the other girls came in checking every corner of the peculiar room (which amazingly didn't felt cramped)

"I have to admit I'm impressed" accepted Ino letting herself drop in one of the puffs "your room is pretty neat"

"It's an honor to be praised by you, thank you" said Midori-sempai entering last and closing the door behind her. Sakura was clearly pissed by this comment and fuming she sat down in a puff across from Ino.

"Let's get working" she said crossing her arms.

"Yeah! Hinata-chan's act!" acknowledged Tenten-chan. I wished they could forget about it.

"So! It's so gotta be a song!" proposed Ino

"Agreed"

"Yep"

"I concur"

They all accepted, it seemed there was no chance for me to have a say about that.

"With her looks and her voice she'll win no doubt" continued the blond.

"Agreed"

"Yep"

"I concur"

After a few seconds of silence they released a little giggle.

"Ano...but..." _My looks? I'm not pretty...and my singing is not that good either, just about normal...at best._

"Don't worry, you'll do just fine" said Midori-sempai "and I seriously think that you have a good chance at winning"

"GOOD CHANCE?!" shrieked Sakura "She'll win no doubt"

"Yeah!" added Ino "Like, First Attack Sure Kill, you know?"

"And Naruto-kun will notice her as a girl" when Tenten-chan said this I noticed that Midori-sempai made a gesture of unconformity, but she said nothing.

"We need to get into it if we want it all to work out as we want to" reminded Sakura

"Right, Hinata, have you thought of the song you want to sing?" asked me Ino

"Well, it's not like I _want_ to sing, but, if I have to… I was considering 'Every time we touch' by Cascada"

"Did you bring it?" she asked me "like in a CD or something like that?"

"Ummm...no, sorry, I just heard the song a couple of times and I liked it"

"Geez, how are we supposed to help you select a song if we can't listen to it?" asked Sakura

Suddenly music started to play in the room

I still hear your voice, when you sleep next to me.  
I still feel your touch in my dreams.(my dreams)  
Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why  
Without you it's hard to survive.

'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
Need you by my side.  
'Cause everytime we touch, I feel this static.  
And everytime we kiss, I reach for the sky.  
Can't you hear my heart beat slow...  
can't let you go.  
Want you in my life.

Your arms are my castle, your heart is my sky.  
They wipe away tears that I cry. (I cry)  
The good and the bad times, we've been through them all.  
You make me rise when I fall.

'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
Need you by my side.  
'Cause everytime we touch, I feel this static.  
And everytime we kiss, I reach for the sky.  
Can't you hear my heart beat slow...  
I can't let you go.  
Want you in my life.

'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
Need you by my side.

Midori-sempai was beside the desk with a small stereo beside her "That's the song, right?" she asked smiling "you're lucky its one of my favorites"

"Midori-sempai, thank you" I said honestly.

"Hoh, you seem pretty reliable Midori" accepted Tenten-chan "you always come to the rescue"

"Yeah if you were a guy I'd go out with you" joked Ino winking at her. Midori-sempai blushed madly

"W-w-w-well, thank you" she replied looking down "I just try my best..." it was the first time I had seen her react like that.

"Anyway, focus girls" called Sakura "what do you think of the song?"

"It's not bad" declared Tenten-chan.

"Yeah it's not too shabby" accepted Ino "but..."

"It doesn't directly say ' I love you' anywhere in the lyric" completed Sakura

"Yep"

"But the song says..!" I tried to argue.

"But Naruto won't get it unless you directly say it" argued back Sakura.

"I'll give it to you, it's a good song...but let's see if we can find something else" proposed Ino.

"I think that as long as Hinata is OK with it, the song will work out" commented Midori-sempai.

"But besides the 'kissing' part the song can easily be referring to some relation between friends...love is never even mentioned...just being part of the life of the interpreter. That won't work..." replied Sakura.

A knocking sound came from the door.

"Girls? The tea is here" it was Midori-sempai's mother. My teammate stood up and opened the door

"Thank you mom, I'll take it"

She received the plate with the teapot, cups and a bowl full of cookies. The door closed, came to the table and placed the plate there. With great grace and care she served each coup and passed it to each one of us.

"Ano, excuse me Midori-sempai?" I called

"I told you, you should cut the sempai already. We're teammates now" she reminded me "What do you need?"

"Could you please tell me where the restroom is?" I asked with my cheecks completely red

"Downstairs" she replied without making fun of me "the last door to the right"

"Thanks"

I left the room a little bit ashamed and walked down the stairs as swiftly as possible, reaching the small living room again. I directly crossed the floor to the set of doors that stood on the other side and reached for the one furthest from the stairs. Knocking the door just to be sure, I opened it and let myself inside.

I splashed some water over my face, it was completely cold, but it felt somehow refreshing.

"What am I doing?" _Just what in the world..? _Were the questions I asked myself, both silently and in a low voice _I can't sing, I've never had some proper training at it...I'm going to flunk it completely...what am I going to do if I fail in front of so many people? In front of 'him'!???_

"Hina-chan?" Habataku asked me worried

_I had to think__ on something else, calm down, and face it..._ focusing I made my mind drift to other thoughts, but I was instantly regretting it as my mind was filled with images, sounds, smells and memories of Naruto-kun.

_Ne, are you serious dattebayo, Hinata?_

_I don't want to be a Gennin, I want to be the Hokage! Because a beautiful princess like Hinata-chan deserves to be protected only by the most powerful Hokage of all times!_

_Not until he apologize to Hinata-chan._

_Amazing Hinata-chan!_

_As settled: you are going to treat me to Ichiraku's tomorrow night._

_Nee, Hinata! I've got a great idea! A masterplan! The prank of all pranks!_

_...not to just like a girl 'cause her looks or her popularity and see pass that…_

_I was scared! Scared that you would see me like everybody else does. Scared to lose you, of going back to being alone._

_I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like, besides being with Hina-chan of course, ramen; I love to try and compare different kinds of ramen, I hate the 3 minutes I have to wait for the instant ramen to be ready. My dream is to become the most powerful Hokage ever so that the whole village will acknowledge me!_

Suddenly that last memory brought another one attached to it. My eyes widened with surprise.

_I'm Kawamura Midori, I like peace, helping others, and nature; I dislike war, conflict, and troubles; my dream is to create a world where everyone can smile without worries or sorrow, but I'm realistic and know that I can't create that Utopia, so I'm happy just helping others._

I recalled that at that time I thought that Midori-sempai maybe was coming from a traditional family like mine, that she was forced to train...what other reason would she have to pick the ninja life if it weren't like that? But...now that I had met her mother and seen her house...this was clearly not a family of ninjas...what was going on with her?

"Ara, Hinata-chan is it?" as I walked out of the room and back to the living room I found myself face to face with Mrs. Sawamura. She was holding Kohaze tightly in front of her "is anything wrong? Do you need something? Are you feeling well?" she asked me with a distracted face but a concerned voice

"No! No! No!" I said trying to calm her "I'm felling perfectly fine just had to...use the...restroom" the blood was rushing to my cheeks.

"Ah! That's good" she answered relieved with a small smile "But you know?" she asked me "I'm glad that Midori invited some friends home, it's the first time she has done so, and so many. I was worried because she never invited friends before. I was very surprised!"

_This might be my chance!_ "Sawamura-san! Will you please tell me more? I want to know more about Midori-sempai"

"About my daughter?" she repeated the question "...well, she was a very cheerful baby, and grew up into an active, smiley, happy, curious eyed and at times even somewhat noisy child. But well, I think she was just a normal 2 years old girl at that time..." suddenly her easygoing face became troubled "but not long after she was 3 years old Midori caught some rare sickness, and we had to take her to the hospital. Sadly the doctors didn't know that to do with her and my husband and I had to see how slowly but steadily her condition became worse each day. We even thought our daughter...that we would lose her...Yet! When she was worst and the doctors had given up because she wasn't answering to any treatments… Midori woke up!" she was cheerful again "it was right after that period of time that she decided that she wanted to be a ninja..." Mrs. Sawamura concentrated as she slowly remembered "I think she said something like 'to stop bad things to happen to others' or something like that" she adjusted her holding on Kohaze who was yet again trying to escape. As it seemed impossible the poor falcon released a sigh "Midori became a little bit timid after she came out of the hospital. She was very silent, and somewhat distant to other kids. That's why my husband and I came here to live in the Leaf Village, so that our daughter could be a ninja as she wanted. I remember that she matured very fast, she was always serious and was so self-conscious. She learned to read and write by herself, and also mathematics and lots of other things, she was a very bright child. But still she never had any friends. Not in school, not in the neighborhood, it seemed as if she had no interest in the other kids" she released a sigh too "my husband and I were worried about her, she was a normal girl with us but outside she was a little bit cold to others. Yet when we finally managed to send her to the ninja academy she seemed to befriend an Uchiha boy, I think his name was Itachi. I remember how the teachers used to say that they were both geniuses!" she giggled at this part "but all of a sudden the whole Uchiha clan was killed over the night...only the younger brother of that kid survived...Midori was devastated by this for a couple of days and then she recovered miraculously, with her desire to be a ninja renewed...I hope that kid is ok"

_That was...Sasuke-__san? _I wondered.

"She continued in the academy, and just when she was about to graduate she told us that she had to go to the west, to a very important mission. I was so scared at that time but she said that it was something that only she could do. I was worried even though she sent letters every week. After a few years she came back and finally graduated as a ninja! We were so proud!" she giggled some more "and soon after that all she would talk about was the two of you, her teammates, apparently she really likes you both. But I never imagined she had so many friends! When she came to me yesterday and told me that some friends of her would come here I was very surprised! But I never expected so many cute girls in my house!" her warm smile demonstrated she was truly enjoying our presence. But my mind wasn't with her "Do you want to know something else?" she asked me

"No. Thank you Mrs. Sawamura!" I replied bowing deeply "May I ask one more favor out of you? Could you please lend me my escort back?"

"Oh! My! Yes sure! Bye bye Mr. Hawk" she said handing over Kohaze who's brilliant eyes yelled "Thank you!"

"Come Kohaze!" I said walking directly to the stairs to go up, I opened the door to Midori-sempai's room and…

"Hinata!!! We have selected the song you're going to sing!" the girls sang in chorus.

"N-nani!?"

* * *

And that's it!!!! Please Read and Review!!!


	26. Countdown to the contest!

We're here!!!!

I bring you the latest chapter of WHITE HEART!!!!

Beta'ed by Okami! (is there anyother?)

Attack!!!

* * *

Countdown to the contest!

"What?!" I asked surprised after hearing the song they had selected.

"It's great, right?" Ino answered me with another question.

"But the song..." I tried to argue.

"I totally know!" she said almost screeching "so retro! It's perfect!"

"But the lyrics...!" I opened my mouth yet again.

"I can make sure Naruto understands them" offered herself Midori-sempai

"but..."

"No 'buts' Hinata!" scolded me Sakura "it fits great"

"...it doesn't say _it_"

"It does, doesn't it?" confirmed Tenten-chan "somewhat...twisted...but it's there, and Midori says Naruto can get it" it was even more difficult to understand than the one I had proposed. I looked at Midori sempai almost pleadingly asking for her help.

"I think you can win with whatever song you sing" she said to me with a warm smile. My last bastion of hope had fallen.

"Obviously! Hinata's talent is amazing, there's no way she wouldn't win!" added Sakura

"I'm not that good!" suddenly I began to feel kind of pressured. I wished they'd stop putting so much responsibility on me, taking for granted I would win just like that.

"Hinata-chan?" Tenten-chan talked to me calmly and put a hand on my shoulder "you'll be alright, believe in yourself"

"Tenten...chan..." I looked at all of them, even Kohaze, who was just watching us from the window, had a confident look in his eyes. The smiles of the girls made me smile too. I nodded.

"Ok, I'll give it a try" everyone burst into cheers and rushed to hug me.

"Yay!"

"So cool!"

"Hinata you'll be so great!"

"Gambatte"

After a few seconds I tried to calm them down a bit, fearing death by suffocation or simply for being trampled.

"Please, please, I can't breathe!" I managed while gasping.

"Oh my!"

"Sorry!"

"You ok?"

"We didn't mean to..."

"Hinata is right, we need to calm ourselves!" said Ino being the first to sit down again. "We still have a lot to do...like practice, and select her outfit, makeup, what to do with her act, because obviously she can't just sing like that! We need lights, dance steps and stuff!" the other girls nodded in agreement suddenly becoming serious...I feared, since it seemed this wasn't going to be easy for me "but first, I need some more tea" she said getting ready to stand up and walk downstairs for more said beverage.

"Please, allow me, Milady" said Kohaze flying beside her. He took the cup and suddenly disappeared, reappearing again a second later with the refilled cup of tea.

"Thanks. You're very useful, and so cute too!" said Ino petting the hawk.

"So, we have the song, what should we focus on now?" asked Sakura.

"I think we should split the rest of the responsibilities" proposed Tenten-chan.

"That's a good idea. I'll manage her outfit" said Ino

"I'll prepare a few dancing steps! She can't just stand there singing, an Idol has to dance too!" added Tenten-chan.

"I'll design the show: lights, tempos, and all that" the only one brilliant enough to manage all that was of course Sakura, so it wasn't a surprise she had proposed herself to do so.

"I...guess I'll help Hinata practice" said Midori-sempai.

So, we all started to work on different things: Ino started by making a list of all the clothes she could lend me, and asked the others (myself included) what other pieces of clothing we had in order to put some outfits together; Sakura and Tenten teamed up, drawing different steps and light works and options for the show; meanwhile I focused on learning the lyrics of the song with the help of Midori-sempai.

"You are good with theoretical jutsu, learning the lyrics should take you more than a couple of tries" she assured while I started mumbling the lyric as we heard the song once and then again, and again.

After a couple of hours I knew the lyrics perfectly, now I was trying to sing along with the song to get the rhythm right. That's when Mrs. Sawamura's voice came from downstairs.

"Midori, can you please go and buy some bread at Yuu's shop? Take your friends with you"

"Ok mom! One second" she replied and then turned to us "I'm sorry, can you please come? It's a bakery just around the corner; we'll be back in few minutes."

"Sure!" accepted Ino.

"We can use some rest" added Sakura.

"And we could even get some snack" proposed Tenten-chan.

We walked downstairs and outside to the street.

"Who's this Yuu person?" asked Ino "could he be...your boyfriend?" she elbowed Midori-sempai's ribs lightly, but the older girl didn't even react.

"Nope, he's just the kid living next door. His family owns and runs the bakery of the neighborhood, I guess you could say he's the closest thing I have to a childhood friend, even if he is two years older than me. That's why we weren't in the same wavelength most of the time" she explained.

We passed by a flower shop that was named "Eden's Halls" before we reached the store, the old woman who ran the shop greeted Midori-sempai with great joy, and she replied as courteous as ever. We entered the bakery, Midori-sempai leading the group, a little bell chimed as the door swung open.

"Ah, Midori-tan" greeted the boy at the counter "Come in, please"

"Good day Yuu-kun, how are you?" she replied.

I noticed that all of a sudden Tenten-chan, Sakura, and Ino stopped on their tracks.

"Oi! Midori!" called Sakura in a whisper "Why didn't you tell us that he was so handsome?!" she demanded. Midori-sempai seemed puzzled.

"You think so?" all three girls nodded vigorously with their faces blushing "well, we've known each other for such a long time I wouldn't notice things like that" was her argument "look around and see if you find something you like, I won't take long" she offered.

The place was small, but it was very good stocked. The wall leading to the street was made from floor to ceiling with windows which read "Kobayakawa Bakery" in painted letters, and allowed the pedestrians to look into the contents of the store. The far wall and the one on the left from the door had racks with different types of bread, both salty and sweet; then, before the wall on the right was the counter, and after it was the door to the backstore; in the middle of the store was another double rack that featured baked snacks.

"It's uncommon for you to bring people to the store" said Yuu to Midori-sempai from the counter

"Don't get used to it" she joked using a pair of pincers to place a few pieces of bread over a plate she was holding.

Yuu was tall, slim and clearly fit, his hair was short and had a strawberry yellow tone, his eyes were dark green and his skin was lightly tanned, probably because of the heat of the ovens in which he baked the bread; his voice was deep and clear, and he talked with utmost respect and courtesy. I didn't find him especially attractive, but based on the blushing faces of the other three girls I could guess he was at least as handsome as Sasuke-san in their eyes, if not more.

I just walked around checking all the different merchandise they had. There were madeleines, donuts, and muffins, little pieces filled with cream, and jam, and covered with sugar. They all looked tasty and were perfectly done and cooked, it seemed as if each was created more as a work of art than as something to eat.

"Sumimasen, do you make all these?" I asked him, he made a small jump, as if he had been drowsing and was suddenly woken up.

"Why yes I do" he replied.

"They are beautiful, so much that I think it's a shame to eat them"

"Well, I appreciate it, but...they were created to be eaten, not to stare at them until they rot" he said smiling "it would make them very sad if they don't go and accomplish the job they were created for, their very reason for existing" he said almost paternally "my family and I make them every morning to help fill stomachs and give energy and nutrients to kids at school, fathers at work, mothers who do the house chores, and even older people who pass their days enjoying the flow of the younger ones. If we make them good looking is to make them more tasty, so, please, if you really want to flatter me, buy one and try the flavor, since that's, after all, what we work so hard for" his speech wasn't mean, it was actually kind of cool, I couldn't help but feel respect for his work and his profession.

"It's the first time I hear a baker talk so proudly of his work" I said smiling "Do you have cinnamon rolls? I'd gladly buy a few, and try the flavor you speak so proudly of"

"Sure thing, on the rack of the corner, at the bottom" he said pointing the direction.

"Thank you"

Midori-sempai bought a whole bag of bread, surely for her and her family.

"Just the usual Yuu-kun" she said leaving a few coins on the counter.

"Ok, then, the usual discount would apply right?" he said taking the coins to the cashier and giving her the change.

"Thanks for the discount" she said.

"You are good patrons, it's merely normal" he replied.

"I'll take this please" I said placing on the counter a plate with a few cinnamon rolls on in.

"OK, I can give you a good discount on that" he said.

"Please that won't be ne-"

"Oh! I insist" he said looking directly into my eyes.

"I guess if that's the case, I can't refuse"

"Very well, then you can have the rolls for free if you are so gentle as to give me your name" he said seriously, the surprise was such that it left me speechless and I could hear how the other girls stopped breathing. It took me more than a second to recover from such an unexpected request. Faced with my silence he added "or maybe it is that angels have no names, just beautiful faces."

"Hinata" I replied "Hyuuga Hinata" he put the cinnamon rolls on a paper bag.

"Here you go, thank you, Hinata-chan."

I took the bag and we all walked out, Yuu-kun waving us good bye from the counter "Thanks for your patronage, come again, Midori-tan, say hello to your mother for me"

"Will do, bye Yuu-kun"

Once we turned the corner Ino, Sakura, and Tenten shrieked in my ear a quite loud "OH MY GOD!"

"Hinata! You have to forget about Naruto and go out with that guy this instant!" said Ino.

"What?" I asked.

"He liked you so much! I thought he was going to ask you out right there!" added Sakura.

"What?" I repeated.

"And he's so handsome and cool too!" said Tenten-chan.

"He is?!" I questioned.

"Of course he is!" they all said in chorus.

"I wish _he_ was as talkative as Yuu!" said Tenten-chan.

"I'm so envious of you Hinata!" lamented herself Ino.

"You go Ino-pig, go after Yuu-sama and leave Sasuke-kun to me!" teased Sakura.

"Why you! Shut up Forehead girl!"

"Girls! Come on girls, easy! Have you forgotten than we are here to help Hinata with her song?" said Midori-sempai opening the door to her house.

"Oh right" said Ino and Sakura completely bored "I'd rather help her get Yuu-sama"

We went inside and delivered the bread to Mrs. Sawamura, climbed the stairs and found Kohaze curled on a corner.

"Please Hinata-hime-sama, don't let me alone again with that Lady" he said trembling lightly.

"I'm sorry Kohaze! I'm just not used to having someone accompanying me. I promise we didn't leave you here on purpose"

Midori-sempai closed the door and Tenten-chan talked so loud that both Kohaze and I jumped.

"You girls are terrible!" she said pointing at Sakura and Ino "Saying you want Hinata to go for that boy! The one Hinata is interested in is Naruto, and we have no reason to get involved in that, so don't say a thing like that again. A girl is free to love who ever she wants to! Unrequited or otherwise! And I'll make sure Hinata and Naruto get together even if it's the last thing I do on Earth! You ask why?! Because she is my friend! So get working! The Talent show is the day after tomorrow!"

Tenten-chan's scolding got the girls working while I continued practicing the song. A couple of hours later we decided that it had been enough for a day and chose to go to our respective homes and meet again the next day, seeing how little time we had to get ready.

Kohaze and I got home when the sun was starting to fall into the horizon; the sunlight had a light tinge of orange on it. We crossed the huge Hyuuga gate and entered the haven, finding ourselves on the big front yard (that wasn't as big as the rest of the yards and gardens) that had the huge tree in the middle. I could see Sora-nee-chan having tea on the railings of the hall of the house looking at Naruto-kun, who was apparently sparing with somebody that was blocked from my sight behind the tree, at first I thought it was Neji or Lee but if that were the case then Sora-nee-chan wouldn't be there since she says that those were "non-interesting kids fights".

I continued walking trying to find out who was the other person, but I didn't need to cover more than a few meters, because suddenly their voices ripped the silence. A shiver ran through my back and I could feel cool sweat rolling down my forehead

"I don't know where you learned that Samurai Kenjutsu, or why that heretic taught them to you; however, if you are a ninja then you must use Ninja Kenjutsu!" the voice of the Demon of the Mist, Zabuza, ripped the silence. Naruto-kun laughed excited.

"So that means you're going to teach me those cool sword techniques?!" asked the blond

"Teach you?" asked the older man skeptically "First I'm going to see if you're fit to learn them"

I continued walking towards them, slowly, ever so slowly. I noticed Haku was on the other side of the hall from which Sora-nee-san was watching. He waved to me, beaconing to join him. I walked around the two swordsmen as they unsheathed their swords; I knew Zabuza could see me, but I was walking behind Naruto-kun, that was why it surprised me when he called me out.

"Hi-Hinata" he said, but it sounded so weird, not only because I wasn't really expecting him to talk to me, but because he stuttered a little "there's something for you on your room, _someone_ bought it for you"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh~ _That_" added Sora-nee-san with a teasing voice.

"T-thank you, Naruto-kun" was all I could muster out, not really sure of to how to respond.

"If you have finished talking, get out of the way unless you want to die" threatened Zabuza.

"Don't you talk like that to Hinata-hime-sama" spouted Kohaze.

"Don't you refer so casually to Hinata!" argued back the azure eyed.

"Oi! Kohaze!" called Sora-nee-san "you don't really want to be between those two! C'me h're and give me your report" she added with a smile.

"Yes, yes, roger" accepted the hawk with reluctance.

I let myself get out of the way of the fight and just a second after, the clashing of swords filled the area. I approached Haku.

"How are you?" I asked smiling "is your situation resolved?"

"Not yet" he answered, his voice still sounding as a girl's more than a boy's "but it's being negotiated. It'll take a long while before anything is solved, until then, we're considered refugees"

"It's better than being hunted" I said trying to bring up the bright side.

"Hinata" called me Sora-nee-san "you really should go and check what's in your room" she said watching her younger brother defend against the swings of his larger opponent, it was clear Zabuza was holding back.

I nodded, excused myself to Haku, and walked to my room. I opened the door not really sure as to what to expect. Slowly I pushed the door open.

Resting on my desk was a beautiful bouquet of exquisite flowers, the sun coming from the window almost made them shine. A little card was between the flowers. I approached the desk and picked up the little card, bringing it closer to my face.

"Eden's Halls" I read recognizing the name of the store, it was the one close to Midori-sempai's. It had a message in the back "For a beautiful angel, since I know how much you enjoy pressing flowers..." I couldn't miss the little word. _Angel? _I thought surprised. Could it be that these flowers came from Yuu? After all the flower shop was just beside the bakery, but...how did he found out my hobby was pressing flowers? Finding the Hyuga residence wasn't that hard but how did he know about my hobby…?

I pulled the chair and prepared to start pressing the flowers, took out a cinnamon roll from the bakery bag I had with me and ate a bite.

"It's delicious..." I said unsure of what to think... "Habataku?"

"Yes, Hina-chan?"

"Was this Yuu person, as handsome as all the other girls said?"

"Well I guess he has fair features, but everyone always said that my tastes on men were...different"

"I...see" I eat another bite "...it really is delicious"

OoOoOoO

The following morning, after the usual training with Sora-nee-san, we all were sitting at the table having breakfast, when suddenly Naruto-kun started a topic that monopolized my attention.

"Oh right! Onee-chan~" he said with a cheeky voice "Can you please lend me some money?"

"Uh? Didn't you get paid a few days ago for an A-class mission?" she asked eating a bit of rice "You didn't waste all that money buying ramen did you?"

"Weeeeeell...I did go to Ichiraku..." accepted the blond.

"What? Are you for real?! Absolutely not, it's your fault for wasting money!" she said stealing a little bit of Naruto-kun's breakfast.

"Hey that was mine!" complained the azure eyed.

"Consider it punishment!" said the older girl...I knew my father wasn't exactly enjoying such a noisy breakfast time, but my mind was focused on something different.

No matter how 'healthy' Naruto-kun was and even with his legendary appetite, he wasn't capable of eating the quantity of ramen required to expire that money without being sick, so, what had he done with the money? Then Sora-nee-chan gave me the answer.

"You couldn't have spent all that money on _some_ girl did you?" she asked teasing. It hit me like a Rock jutsu straight on the face. Naruto-kun had spent the day with Azumi the day we arrived from the wave country...surely he had used a good part of his money on her...something started to boil inside me, I stood up so fast I almost turned the table up.

"I'm leaving, I have training with Anko-sensei" I said coldly and left the room.

"Wha- Uh! Ah! I'm coming too!" said Naruto-kun following me.

OoOoOoOoO

The morning incident bugged me all the training and I couldn't look at Naruto-kun without feeling that sensation inside of me again, it felt terrible, but it renewed my determination to win that silly contest! I wasn't going to lose!

"Midori-sempai! We'll be meeting today again, right?" I asked her when the training was over.

"Yes, we need to finish since we have few days left to get ready" she replied.

"Ok, let's get going then" I told her turning around in direction of her place.

"Please wait a second" she said, and turned around towards Naruto-kun "This is for you" he handed him a scroll.

"What is it? A new jutsu?!" asked excited the boy.

"I'm sorry but this time it's not it, it's theoretical training" explained the older girl.

"What?!" complained Naruto-kun.

"Cheer up, cheer up" said the white haired with a smile "it's going to be useful for when you're the Hokage.

"Ok, ok" accepted Naruto, not really excited "what is it about?"

"Laws" she said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!" Naruto-kun didn't quite look forward to the contents of the scroll now.

But with that Midori-sempai's work was done, if it was something she gave him Naruto-kun would surely read it, hopefully understand it, and with that, he would also get the lyrics' meaning.

All the details would be ready soon and I would face Azumi, A fight for Naruto-kun, on a ground that wasn't exactly on our job line.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Next Chapter's preview

"And here is our next contestant!" said the contest's announcer.

"Hinata! You have to go out there!" Ino urged me.

"I can't go out!" I said almost screaming, the terror clear in my voice.

"Hinata-chan if you don't go out you'll lose by default!" told me a worried Tenten-chan.

"I won't do it!" I said holding my head.

"I thought you had more resolve" said coldly Azumi "but if you're giving up, then I'll take it you give him up too"

Azumi's turn came. Her act was flawless; I could see Naruto-kun cheering for her from the crowd. It was unfair: she was pretty, skilled, and talented. And now she had Naruto-kun too.

A silent tear ran down my cheek as the act ended.

"Hinata we can't let it end like this!" yelled Sakura.

"And that was our last act of the night!" the contest had finished. I hadn't even sung my song.

Next chapter will be titled: "I love you"

Please Read & Review


	27. I love you

Here we are!!! Believe it or not!!!!

The newest chapter of WHITE HEART is hitting !

Finally the contest has arrived and because of that this chapter is an amazing 8k words long!!!!

Our favorite, gorgeous and super talented beta and editor was of course Okami!

We have a few notes at the end so please read them!!!! =D

The songs are:

Avril Lavigne: Girlfriend

John Secada and Shanice: If I Never Knew You (Pocahontas')

Bananarama: Love in the First Degree

* * *

**I love you**

"Very good Hinata! Again! From the top!" said Midori-sempai, I had just finished rehearsing the song, I had pretty much grasped the lyrics and the feeling, all that was left was the dance choreography. We were already on the eve of the talent show.

At that moment the Midori-sempai's room door bursted open and Ino-chan, who was late, came in really worked out.

"Big news! Big news!" she called loudly.

"You mean besides the fact that you're late?" asked Sakura-chan in an acid tone.

"Of course Forehead, duh" replied the blond in the same tone.

"So?" demanded Tenten-chan.

"...So what?" asked back Ino-chan.

"The news" I explained.

"OH! THAT! You're not going to believe it!" she said taking a seat, Kohaze served her a cup of tea and placed a plate of cookies close to her.

"Thank you" she said while petting Kohaze a little. She took a sip of tea and bit a cookie enjoying the taste "Yuu-sama makes awesome cookies! We're lucky that he gives them for free to Hinata-chan" she blinked twice "why are you all girls looking at me?"

"THE NEWS?!" yelled Tenten-chan and Sakura-chan

"I'm getting to that" she argued trying to ease the pain from her ears "so, I was at my family's store the doorway, ready to come here, yes? And suddenly, you won't believe who was walking down the street!" she made a tentative pause.

"A pretty woman?" asked Sakura-chan taking the acid tone to a whole new level, Ino-chan sent her kunais with her eyes.

"NO, dumb, Naruto and Azumi" my heart got squeezed a little bit "she was clinging to his arm and they looked all lovey dovey"

"Wait" interrupted Tenten-chan "You're not saying this in order to keep up Yuu's issue are you?" the thirst for blood was palpable in her voice.

"No, no, no!" defended herself Ino-chan, terror clear in the tone of her voice "actually that's not the main point of the gossip!" she continued her story "I hid myself, considering the possibilities of tailing them, I mean, I've got second best stealth of the gennin and they aren't that good at recon, so I was considering my options when suddenly Kiba and Shino came from the other side of the street. I thought maybe they would stop and chat a while but they merely exchanged a greeting and they passed by. However, what really called my attention was what Kiba said after they had passed by, he said 'Ho'd tell? they look good, Azumi and that Naruto, but I always thought he would date Hinata, actually, I wonder if she's still available, she was pretty cute' and Shino replied 'Azumi hasn't mentioned a relationship with Naruto yet' and Kiba said 'Then they should get together ASAP, that would make Hinata free, right? You think she'd accept going out with me?' and Shino's reply was so funny, he said a nonchalantly 'No' After that was merely Kiba arguing with Shino about his so called 'attributes' and other nonsense, but anyways"

"And you're telling us all this 'cause...?" asked her Tenten-chan.

"Well it seemed like a great gossip to me..." defended herself Ino-chan.

"It's Kiba who we're talking about here, he's never been too bright" said Sakura-chan.

"But maybe that means that the others support Azumi and not Hinata-chan?" asked our blond friend. I wasn't really hearing anymore, my chest ached whenever I thought about it.

"Don't worry about that, and focus, we have to be ready for tomorrow" said Midori-sempai.

"Ino, have you finished with her clothes?" asked Sakura-chan.

"Oh! That! Well, I have two options" she looked through her pockets and took out a little scroll, opening it a little. A cloud of smoke appeared and along with it two sets of clothes "look here, the song talks about someone who faces trial right? So what about her custom being similar to some kind of law enforcer? You know, to make it more dramatic. So I came up with this idea, foreign, and domestic" she said presenting both outfits.

"O-o-oi!! Ino!! Where the hell did you get _these_?!" asked Sakura-chan somewhat scared.

One of the sets were very similar to normal ninja clothes, it was a mini vest with the sign of the Konoha Police Force on the back (A shuriken with the symbol of the Uchiha clan in the middle), a pair of black ninja boots with high heels and a light blue mini dress. The size of most of those clothes seemed somewhat off, it wasn't until I took the dress and put it over my clothes that I noticed what was wrong. Suddenly my blood accumulated in my cheeks.

"Ino-chan this is so short!!!" I screeched.

"I know, with your legs this dress is a mortal weapon" she answered with a proud smile.

I left the dress on the table as if it was a can of radioactive material. I looked at the other outfit. It was completely different from what I had ever seen. The shoes were a pair of brown boots, made of leather, completely closed, and finished in point, a leather strap attached a metal Y to the boot, at the end of said metal branch was a small star with several points. The clothes included a leather mini skirt, a tiny vest made with the skin of some black and white animal, and a short sleeved shirt whose fabric showed a very unique design, with bright colors that created little squares all over it. As accessories it had high crowned and wide brimmed hat of matching color with the boots; it also came with a badge, it was a golden star of five points that read "Sheriff" in the middle

"That's the foreign clothes I was talking about, it's supposed to be the clothes that the police officers use on the other side of the sea" explained Ino, seeing how the mini skirt looked more like a wide belt to me, I seriously doubted her information sources "Why don't you try them Hinata-chan?" asked me Ino-chan

"D-do I have t-t-"

"Yes you have!" they all said with shinning eyes, it was clear they wanted to see me using these outfits.

I tried the police costume first as it was at least a style of clothing I was somewhat familiar with, but even after I putting on all the clothes I still felt as if I was still naked.

"Wooooaaaah" said all of the girls when they saw me

"Dont just 'woah' me!" I complained "H-how do I look?"

The heels of the boots were way taller than anything I had worn before, the dress wouldn't reach half the way between my waist and my knees, the vest wasn't exactly designed to be closed on the front, so I had to wear it open, it rested on both sides of my chest.

"I guess Hinata-chan is the only one here that can look that good in that outfit" conceded Tenten-chan.

"O-oi, what's with these?" asked Sakura-chan with a drop of sweat on her forehead "so jealous" she added taking her hands to her chest, she released a sigh.

"See? It looks good on her" said proudly Ino.

"Midori-sempai what do you think?" I asked

"M-m-me?" she jumped quite a lot, her face was completely red, and her eyes were anywhere but set on me, as fast as she could she turned her head away from me too "I-it looks good!" was her answer though she added in a whisper that apparently only I heard "tsk, that's not the body of a 12 years old, not even my body..."

"See? Looks and skill, the contest and Naruto are in the bag" said Ino-chan with confidence.

"No, no, no" said suddenly Sakura-chan "we can't go with this outfit"

"Why not?" asked Tenten-chan.

"Cause of the police sign in the back" she explained.

"What's the matter with that?" asked Ino-chan not getting it.

"It has the Uchiha crest on it, isn't it?" I guessed Sakura-chan's thoughts.

"That's right, you know how Naruto hates Sasuke-kun, we can't take any risks here"

"I guess you're right" accepted Ino-chan.

"Why don't you try the other one?" proposed Tenten-chan.

"W-what?! The other one?!" exclaimed two voices, Midori-sempai's and mine.

"No, no, no, no! That won't be necessary!" said nervously Midori-sempai "I'm pretty sure she looks good in that one too, there's no need for her to try it...right?"

"NO, she definitely has to!" said all the other girls.

It was a very long evening.

Though eventually, as everything, it came to an end, and we had to go home. All the girls had already left and I was waiting for Midori-sempai, because she was going to buy some bread for dinner and I had to walk to the corner before going home. Midori-sempai came out of the house with a big bag for the bread and we got going.

"So, 'Cowgirl' uh?" she asked me.

"I guess that's how Ino-chan called that style...It makes me feel like I'm the cow..." I complained.

"Gambatte, Hinata"she cheered me on.

"I'll try my best, thanks" I tried to show a warm smile even with my nervousness rising.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure"

"Why are you doing all of this?"

"What you mean?"

"The whole contest thing" I took a moment to consider it, but she talked again "it's actually more like a question you need to answer for yourself. Are you really here because you want to confess to Naruto? I mean, I am rooting for you all the way here, and I seriously think you're going to win, but, if you are going to take part on it, I'd prefer it being for a good reason. Think about it, will you?" she smiled at me after finishing talking, but once again she had used that tome which made her sound much mature.

"Um, sure" I said not really knowing what to say.

"It's a shame Kohaze couldn't stay today, my mom really liked him" she said when we reached the corner and got ready to take different ways.

"Well, Sora-nee-san assigned him as our bodyguard, and you all girls are with me here and today Naruto-kun is playing with the Konohamaru-corps so it was logical who he had to watch" I explained as calmed and collected as possible, although deep inside me I wished to go and play with Naruto-kun and the little kids too "Say hello to Yuu-san for me"

"Will do, try to rest, tomorrow is your big day" she said happily.

We both waved good-bye and turned to resume walking, each in a different direction.

"...Even **I** am not completely sure of why I'm doing this..." I said to the wind.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

We arrived early the next day at the open-air theater of the village. There were at least thirty people there who were registered as participants. Most of them were already practicing, concentrating, getting ready for the show. The contest would begin at 6:00 pm, exactly at dusk, so most of us would perform with the lights of the stage on, and even the firsts to act could use them with the low-light environment.

Ino-chan, Sakura-chan and Tenten-chan were on the backstage with me, applying some make up on me, but Midori-sempai was running late. I was wearing a gorgeous white kimono, courtesy of Mrs. Sawamura who had lent it to me .

"So, did you invite him?" asked Ino-chan.

"Yes, I did" I said slowly while nodding.

"Hinata-chan, please don't move too much" begged Sakura-chan.

"Sorry" I apologized to Sakura-chan before answering Ino-chan "I told him I would be here...and that if he could, I'd like him to come"

"Ow, Hinata-chan!" complained Tenten-chan "with such an invitation he might not come!"

"Oh! No, he's here. He came with Azumi" we all turned to see the person who had just arrived.

"Midori, you're late!" nagged Ino-chan with her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry, I was getting my partner" she explained.

"Haku-kun!" I said recognizing the stylish figure that was walking behind my teammate.

"Hello" said the boy simply, smiling with his beautiful face.

"-kun?" asked surprised all the girls.

"Yes, Haku here is a boy" explained Midori-sempai and all the girls nearly fainted. That's when I noticed they both were wearing matching yukatas.

"Why are you dressed like that?" asked Sakura-chan.

"We're also going to participate" explained Haku-kun.

"I'm sorry for telling you this late, it was kind of a last minute thing" explained Midori-sempai.

"Does that mean you're not going to help me?!" I asked her anxiously, Midori-sempai's jutsu was an important part of the act, she smiled and negated with her head.

"Of course I'm going to help you, I'm not going to leave my cousin abandoned like that" she said.

"'Cousin'?" asked surprised Ino-chan.

"Yes, cou- I mean! Teammate! Ha,ha,ha, sorry, I'm kind of distracted today" she said laughing nervously.

"As long as you don't get distracted on Hinata-chan's act everything is fine" added Sakura-chan.

At that moment someone called us from afar.

"Will all participants please come this way? We are going to announce the order" said a woman who apparently was the head of the staff.

There were thirty four competitors, each one had around five minutes to perform and that time included getting ready for the show and leaving the stage. You could use a little bit more of time but the idea was to make it as swift as possible. The winner would be selected by the public, based on their reaction to the performance and their applause.

I was more or less in the middle of the list, while Azumi (who was looking very attractive if somewhat aggressive since her outfit looked as if she was a more conservative Sora-nee-san… as impossible as that sounded) was placed a few numbers after me and Midori-sempai and Haku-kun would perform near the end of the show.

After the order was announced we rushed in order to finish preparing ourselves. In my case we had to fix my make up and get started with my hair. Before we knew it a large crowd had assembled at the place, taking their seats and waiting for the contest to get started. I could see Naruto-kun sitting in the middle already, waiting for the show to begin. He had always liked been in the center.

The place was semi circular, with the seats placed at different heights, the farther away from the stage the higher they were, the stage was large and clean, with wooden floor. Several lights and huge speakers were all around the stage, a heavy red curtain covering all of it. On the sides a pair of screens showed what was happening on the stage.

When the clock marked six and five minutes a large voice resounded in the theater.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the sixty ninth edition of Konoha's Talent Show!" an announcer made his entrance, wearing an electric blue hakama, a large microphone in his hand, his hairstyle was even more spiky than Naruto-kun's "this year we have a very numerous amount of participants who will show us their different talents to win this magnificent contest!" the public applauded excited "Let's get the party started, here is our firsts participant!"

One by one several people passed to the stage and performed their number. Aside from the dancers and singers there were jugglers, magicians, comedians, people who played instruments, or acted a scene from famous plays, or that made poetry, among others.

The sun quickly left the skies and hid past the horizon, and the stars shined above, the lights of the place illuminated the stage.

Sooner than I expected there were only two people left before my turn. The woman on stage was performing a very complicated dance, she was wearing a very beautiful red dress with lots of ribbons that flew all around the place as she moved in tune with the accords of the music. She looked beautiful and her act was amazing, but then it happened: she fell, but in such a way that she made great ruckus, ripped her dress, and got good part of her skin exposed. The open air theater became completely silent, then slowly busted into a sound laughing.

My heart went into shock as the woman, holding her dress, passed just by me in tears. I could feel the anxiety building up inside me, this wasn't right.

"I'm not going to do it" I said.

"What are you talking about?" asked me Tenten-chan.

"I'm not going to sing, I won't do it, I can't do it, I don't want to do it!" I said in quick succession.

The announcer had come out again and tried to calm down the audience to bring out the participant who would act before me.

"Hinata-chan calm down" said Ino-chan "just relax, sit down and try to catch your breath, you'll be fine"

"Yeah, take it easy, you'll rock 'em" Sakura-chan cheered me.

My knees felt like jelly, so I sat down on a box as Ino-chan recommended, but I wasn't able to calm down.

"Thank you!" said the announcer as the act finished and the audience clapped a little "That was Kim Yong and his act of contortionism! Now please help me receive our next participant! Number 18! Come to the stage!"

I looked at the pin that was pinched to my clothes, it read '18' on big numbers, and it meant it was my turn. However several seconds passed and I didn't move. Ino came rushing to my side.

"Hinata! You have to go out there!" she urged me.

"I can't go out!" I said almost screaming, the terror clear in my voice, more palpable than I thought "I will be terrible, I'll screw it"

"Hinata-chan, you'll be fine!" supported me Sakura-chan "bring it on!" I just lowered my head avoiding their eyes.

"Hinata-chan if you don't go out you'll lose by default!" told me a worried Tenten-chan.

"I won't do it!" I said holding my head.

"I thought you had more resolve" said Azumi coldly who came at me from behind "but if you're giving up, then I'll take it you give him up too."

"What do you want? Mind your own business" dismissed her Sakura-chan.

"You should listen to your own advice, or do you want me to defeat you like last time?" questioned Azumi.

A member of the staff pointed at the participant with the number 19 "You, go out there" she said pushing him lightly.

The contest continued without much problem, even if I hadn't gone out no one seemed to pay too much attention to it.

"What was all that work for, after all?!" complained Ino-chan

"Hina-chan, don't worry, you have practiced so much these days, you know the song and also you're not alone, all your friends are here supporting you. I know you'll be fine" told me Habataku trying to cheer me on.

But I wasn't hearing them anymore. After some minutes their expressions softened, passing from scolding to pity.

Slowly the seconds became minutes and the participants continued passing into the stage one by one, I noticed that Azumi was standing next to the stage. She was the next one.

"May the next participant come out! Number 22! Please come here!" called the announcer

Azumi took a deep breath, her pin read said number. Her turn had come. She closed her eyes and tried to focus before taking a step outside.

She was received as the ones before her with light applause from the audience, as she walked to the center of the stage I stood up slowly and walked towards the stage, lending on a wall, still out of sight of the audience. I could see Naruto-kun cheering and whistling as Azumi walked confidently, her smile shining honestly and waving her hand vigorously as a greeting.

"Hello little one, what's your name?" Asked the announcer.

"Azumi, Nakamura Azumi"

"Welcome Azumi-chan, tell us, how old are you?"

"I'm 12 years old"

"You're very young: are you confident in your abilities to win this contest?"

"I'm not here to compete and win the prize you're offering, but yes, I'm sure I have what it takes to win this one out"

"Well then, show what you've got girl!"

The announcer retired from the stage and some static was emitted from the speaker in anticipation to the music track being played. Azumi hold her breath one second as the music began.

"Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I don't like your girlfriend!  
No way! No way!  
I think you need a new one  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I could be your girlfriend

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I know that you like me  
No way! No way!  
No, it's not a secret  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I want to be your girlfriend

As the rhythm of the song filled the place the audience responded to her song clapping in tune with the song's pace. Her voice was amazing.

The lights of the stage filled the area with radiant colors and shifting forms.

"Who does she think she is?!" asked an outraged Sakura-chan.

You're so fine  
I want you mine  
You're so delicious  
I think about ya all the time  
You're so addictive  
Don't you know what I could do to make you feel alright?  
Don't pretend I think you know I'm damn precious  
And Hell Yeah  
I'm the motherfucking princess  
I can tell you like me too and you know I'm right

"Hinata, I guess it would be better if you covered your ears, this won't be nice" warned me Midori-sempai.

She's like so whatever  
And you could do so much better  
I think we should get together now  
And that's what everyone's talking about!

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I don't like your girlfriend!  
That's Right! No way! No way!  
I think you need a new one  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I could be your girlfriend

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I know that you like me  
No way! No way!  
You know it's not a secret  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I want to be your girlfriend

All the people were excited by the song: they were singing, dancing, clapping, and cheering. Even Naruto-kun was cheering loudly. It seemed more like some artist's live instead of an amateur talent show contest.

I can see the way, I see the way you look at me  
And even when you look away I know you think of me  
I know you talk about me all the time again and again  
So come over here, tell me what I want to hear  
Better yet make your girlfriend disappear  
I don't want to hear you say her name ever again  
(And again and again and again!)

She's like so whatever  
And you could do so much better  
I think we should get together now  
And that's what everyone's talking about!

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I don't like your girlfriend!  
No way! No way!  
I think you need a new one  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I could be your girlfriend

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I know that you like me  
No way! No way!  
No, it's not a secret  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I want to be your girlfriend

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I know that you like me  
No way! No way!  
You know it's not a secret  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I want to be your girlfriend

In a second you'll be wrapped around my finger  
Cause I can, cause I can do it better  
There's no other  
So when's it gonna sink in?  
She's so stupid  
What the hell were you thinking?!

In a second you'll be wrapped around my finger  
Cause I can, cause I can do it better  
There's no other  
So when's it gonna sink in?  
She's so stupid  
What the hell were you thinking?!

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I don't like your girlfriend!  
No way! No way!  
I think you need a new one  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I could be your girlfriend

Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I know that you like me  
No way! No way!  
No, it's not a secret  
Hey! Hey! You! You!  
I want to be your girlfriend

As the last chorus of the song went on, I came to notice that all the song Azumi had been watching Naruto-kun intently, without seeing anyone else. Her act was flawless; I could see Naruto-kun cheering for her in the crowd.

It was unfair: she was pretty, skilled, and talented. And now she also had Naruto-kun.

A silent tear ran down my cheek as the act ended.

When the song finished the announcer returned to the stage "Well that was something! You guys liked it, didn't you?" the people replied with a roar.

"Thank you!" said a sweating and agitated Azumi "thank you very much" she took a second to recover her breath and then looked directly at me, hidden as I was, before turning and leaving the stage to the opposite side.

"Sakura-chan, Ino-chan" called warningly Tenten-chan "hold me" surprised by the unusual request the girls grabbed the brunette by the arms.

"RELEASE ME! I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" Tenten-chan rushed trying to break free of the grip that the other girls had done half heartedly at the beginning but were now struggling to keep in order to impede Tenten-chan from killing the younger weapon master.

It took us several minutes to calm her down, and get her to take a sit, making her regain her composure

"That was totally uncalled for!" complained Ino-chan "just you wait, we'll think of something to shut her up"

"Calm down girls, there's no need to start a fight between companions, we're all members of the same village" reminded us Midori-sempai.

"You go and tell that to that Azumi girl" proposed Tenten-chan.

Haku-kun showed up on that moment "Midori-chan, it's our turn" he announced to our older friend

"Yes, coming" she answered and stood up. She gave me a direct look and talked "Hinata, please listen to us"

"The next participants will perform in Duet! Will participants 29 and 30 come to the stage please!"

Midori-sempai and Haku-kun walked out and were received by the audience with a round of applause.

"What kind of song will these two beautiful girls show us?" asked rhetorically the announcer "what are your names?"

"I'm Sawamura Midori" said my teammate with perfect manners.

"And my name is Haku" he said smiling "but just to make it clear, I'm a boy" he said simply while smiling.

The whole place fell into silence; I couldn't help but smile at the memory of that morning in the woods when Naruto-kun and I found out.

"...Well then...it's all yours" said the man still a little shocked and leaving the stage.

A soft music track started playing as Midori-sempai and Haku-kun stood on the middle, facing each other. The lights on the stage changed to a deep blue tone. Midori-sempai started singing with a voice much more masculine than her usual girly tone.

Ok, so this one's a duet, therefore I'm going to put on top of each part who sings it, I hope it's not that confusing

Midori:

If I never knew you  
If I never felt this love  
I would have no inkling of  
How precious life can be

And if I never held you  
I would never have a clue  
How at last I'd find in you  
The missing part of me.

In this world so full of fear  
Full of rage and lies  
I can see the truth so clear  
In your eyes  
So dry your eyes

And I'm so grateful to you  
I'd hve lived my whole life through  
Lost forever  
If I never knew you

Haku:

If I never knew you  
I'd be safe but half as real  
Never knowing I could feel  
A love so strong and true

I'm so grateful to you  
I'd have lived my whole life through  
Lost forever  
If I never knew you

Midori:

I thought our love would be so beautiful

Haku:  
Somehow we'd make the whole world bright

Duet:  
I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong  
all they'd leave us were these wispers in the night  
But still my heart is saying we were right

Haku:  
Oh if I never knew you

Midori:  
There's no moment I regret

Haku:

If I never knew your love

Midori:

Since the moment that we met

Haku:

I would have no inkling of

Midori:  
If our time has gone too fast

Haku:

How precious life can be...

Midori:  
I've lived at last...

The deeper tone Midori-sempai was using and the sweet voice of Haku-kun were in perfect sync, and their performance was excellent, even down to the way they moved, how they looked into each other followed the romantic tone of the song, anyone could believe that they were a couple of lovers.

Duet:  
I thought our love would be so beautiful  
Somehow we'd make the whole world bright

Haku:  
I thought our love would be so beautiful  
We'd turn the darkness into light

Duet:  
And still my heart is saying we were right  
Midori:

we were right

Midori:  
And if I never knew you  
Haku:

If I never knew you

Midori:  
I'd have lived my whole life through

Haku:  
Empty as the sky  
Duet:

Never knowing why  
Lost forever  
If I never knew you

As the last chords of the song finished the audience which had been completely silent during the song bursted into cheers and applauses, everyone but Naruto-kun, he was watching them with a somewhat serious expression.

When they returned to the backstage the girls received them with cheers and compliments. They had been amazing, that was true, but I didn't pay attention to their words, I was too focused deep inside me. The song had really reached me.

"Midori-sempai" I called "I've found it, the reason to do it, I want to sing!" I said with a calmed smile, she smiled back at me.

"I knew you would say that" she put a hand on my shoulder "let's see what we can do" she looked at all the other girls there.

"YES!" they cheered in agreement.

We dashed around talking with all the members of the staff, asking for an opportunity for me to sing, but slowly the minutes were passing and we were just moving from one person to the next, without really getting a firm answer.

"Participant 33!" he heard from the stage.

Apparently the staff couldn't reach a decision on such short notice, and everyone tossed the case to the next one.

"Participant 34 please come here!" it was the last one.

"Hinata we can't let it end like this!" yelled Sakura worried.

"I've got an idea!" said Ino-chan "Makasete (leave it to me), Hinata-chan, get ready to sing any minute now; Midori, Sakura, go to manage the act, Tenten-chan come with me, I'll need your help"

We all nodded and rushed to our positions.

The last act came to an end when we reached the edge of the stage.

"And that was our last act of the night!" said the announcer, the contest had finished. I hadn't even sung my song. I could see how Naruto-kun was climbing the stairs towards the exit "thank you all for yo-"

Ino put her hands in front of her "Don't let me fall" was all the warning she gave us "Mind Transfer no Jutsu!" she cried and next second her body fell down as if lifeless, Tenten-chan almost didn't catch her.

"I'm sorry!" said the announcer "we have a last minute participant!!!"

"Hinata-chan to your position!" hurried me Habataku.

"But! What about Ino-c-"

"No time to explain hurry!" she pressed me.

"O-ok" I concentrated chakra a few seconds "Moon Jump!"

The stage had a trap door below it, it was connected to a small elevator, I was going to enter the stage using it. I could feel my heart pounding, racing, fighting desperately to burst out of my chest. I had teleported to this small place for that sake.

The trap door opened above my head, a single spotlight fell over me and a thick mist entered through the hole. Both Sakura-chan and Midori-sempai were doing their part. The elevator activated as the music began playing.

I reached stage level, the whole floor was covered with thick mist that made it look as if it was a cloud; my kimono shimmered a little under the bright light. I could see Naruto-kun clearly in the public; he was back at his seat in the middle of the place. The time to start singing approached rapidly, this was so different from singing in a Karaoke, and all the eyes of those people were set only on me. I wanted to run away as fast as I could...but something held my feet where they were, solid as stone...and heavy as it too.

_PERSEVERANCE!!! This one's for you!_ I yelled in my head before singing.

"Last night I was dreaming I was locked in a prison cell

When I woke up I was screaming calling out your name.  
And the judge and the jury they all put the blame on me

They wouldn't go for my story  
they wouldn't hear my plea"

This was it, Midori-sempai would use her ninjutsu to change mi kimono _into that other_ outfit, the sheriff one. I didn't even want to think about that so I decided to simply ignore my clothing and just sing. All the lights of the stage turned on filling the place with millions of colors and shapes. As the rhythm of the song changed I resumed the singing and started dancing.

"Only you can set me free" I said pointing at Naruto-kun

"'Cause I'm guilty - guilty - guilty as a girl can be.  
Come on  
baby  
can't you see

I stand accused of love in the first degree"

The cheers of the audience were loud, but I was only looking at the blond boy, looking at me with that serious expression.

Guilty of love in the first degree."

Someday I believe it you will come to my rescue

Unchain my heart you're keeping and let me start a new.  
The hours pass so slowly since they've thrown away the key

Can't you see that I'm lonely  
won't you help me  
please?"

I was dancing and singing directly at him, and his azure eyes were locked on my moves. I just hoped it wasn't only because of the strangeness of my clothing.

"Only you can set me free

'Cause I'm guilty - guilty - guilty as a girl can be.  
Come on  
baby  
can't you see

I stand accused of love in the first degree."

I dared to take a look at myself at the screens. I was taken aback, but tried to avoid showing it. I was wearing a beautiful dress: it was made with a light violet fabric, with small straps on the shoulders, white silver details in the chest, the waist and at the very end, with a gorgeous cut and style. I recognized it instantly; it was the dress I had liked that day at the store. Suddenly black chains came out of thick air, and wrapped themselves around me; however, they weren't heavy and didn't interfere with my movements, this was Midori-sempai's doing. A moment later, a pair of white feathered wings sprouted from my back, breaking the chains into pieces.

"Guilty of love in the first degree.  
Cuilty - of love - guilty of love in -  
Guilty - of love - guilty of love in -  
Guilty - of love in the first degree.

And the judge and the jury they all put the blame on me

They wouldn't go for my story  
they wouldn't hear my plea."

The pair of wings exploded into thousands of feathers that filled the open air of the theater, shinning as if made of silver.

"Only you can set me free

'Cause I'm guilty - guilty - guilty as a girl can be.  
Come on  
baby  
can't you see

I stand accused of love in the first degree.

Only you can set me free

'Cause I'm guilty - guilty - guilty as a girl can be.  
Come on  
baby  
can't you see

I stand accused of love in the first degree.

Only you can set me free  
'Cause I'm guilty - guilty - guilty as a girl can be.  
Come on  
baby  
can't you see"

The song finished and the audience exploited in an extremely loud roar. Only Naruto-kun was still sitting, looking solely at me. I wasn't really sure if he had understood the message of the song...so...I put my hands together over my heart and yelled with enthusiasm.

"Naruto-kun!" a single spot light fell over him "I love you!" I told him with a huge smile. His eyes grew bigger, and his face reached a light pink tone. All the people suddenly quieted down, before turning into cheers. Naruto-kun recovered his calmed stare and smiled at me. In a flash of orange he disappeared. My smile stood there, I had been able to do it.

I bowed at the audience and took my leave.

As soon as I was out of the stage I ran to my friends and jumped to hug them.

"YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT!" cheered excited Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, and Tenten-chan.

"Thank you minna!" I said smiling at them. Midori-sempai and Haku-kun were a few steps away, both smiling at me "you too, thank you very much"

"Hinata-chan!" called Tenten-chan "When did you bought that dress?"

"I didn't, it was it was a present from you, right, Midori-sempai?" I asked her

"Actually I was merely making the delivering, it was given to me the same day we arrived from that mission, I was asked to give it to you, but I hadn't found a good moment to do so"

"Uhhh! Maybe it's Yuu-sama's gift!" said excited Ino-chan.

"No" I denied "I still hadn't met him that day..." I tried to explain when suddenly I understood. Its cost… it cost nearly all the money we had earned...

_I bet she'd look fantastic in this thing__._

_Onee-chan~ Can you please lend me some money__?_

The reason why Naruto-kun had no more money...could it be? He had bought this?

I tried to search for Naruto-kun back at the audience but I knew he wouldn't be there anymore.

_Naruto-kun...Thank you_

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

After the "strange occurrence" with the announcer, the staff had no other choice but to accept that I had participated in the contest, even if I had been originally disqualified by default. They labeled the issue as a simple misunderstanding on the information given to the announcer.

"And we'll now announce the winners of the sixty ninth contest!" said the man completely recovered from Ino-chan's jutsu after a few minutes "In third place Nakamura Azumi!" with a somewhat depressed look Azumi walked into the stage to receive her trophy among with a great applause.

"In second place the Duet of Midori-chan and Haku-kun" both of them looked at each other and blinked surprised, but their expression softened into a smile and they went to receive the second place trophy sharing it, as they politely bowed before their own round of applause.

"And Finally! The best! The number one! The winner of the Sixty Ninth Talent Show Contest of Konoha!" I was really nervous, all the other participants were as anxious as I was. Sakura-chan, Tenten-chan, Ino-chan, and I were holding hands, a heavy silence reigned over the place "AND THE WINNERS...IS!" we squeezed our hands "HYUUGA HINATA!!!!" we jumped happily as we heard my name. I wasn't able to believe it!!! I had won! I REALLY HAD! Jumping and running I went to receive the trophy.

The ovation that resounded when I came into the stage was deafening.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" said the announcer "YOU'RE THE YOUNGEST PARTICIPANT EVER WINNING THIS COMPETITION!"

Standing there, in front of so many people holding a huge trophy I couldn't help to smile brightly.

* * *

Editor's note: Hey readers, I'm striking back. The same deal, check for any mistakes please, since I corrected this late at night and another part while on lab nnU I'm not sure how well I did my job this time.

Now, did anyone else was like "WTF" with Hinata's I love you? I was kinda shocked with that and the music's choice, but then, I'm the editor XD You are the fans so give some opinions on this chappie.

Tohru's Note: Yeah and I'm the author, so any complaints on the songs...actually those will have to be delivered to my parents for making listen to oldies =P. What can I say? Did anyone noticed that I tried my best this chapter to make Okami say 'Perv' and yet failed miserably?

Any ways, that's all for this arc!!! I hope you liked it!!! (And to Mr. ZZZ, Hinata won this one, maybe this way I can show you I'm not bashing her)

Next arc we will start with a new development! The Chunnin exams are finally here! But thats not all this arc will be like the main arc of the story, get ready 'cause all of the mysteries are going to be solved shorty!!!!

However...I'm going to take an extended rest before posting that chapter. This doesn't mean hiatus, just means I'll take a few weeks before starting to work on next chapter, so please wait patiently!!!

While we wait for it, please READ & REVIEW =D


	28. Feelings on the Horizon

Hello!

How was you summer holidays? I hope they were easier than mine! hahaha but it was fun anyways!

Well now, back to business! I know the chapter is late, but well I moved back from Europe and all got a surgery to heal my pair of shiny brown eyes so that I don't need to wear glasses anymore, and other stuff because of all that I couldn't find the time to focus and concentrate on the writting.

However! As an apology this chapter is 30% longer than the usual ^^

And as I come back so does our favorite girl Okami! Who as usual was the Beta reader, grammar and orthography checker, and style corrector ^_^ (Honestly, what would I do with out you?)

No more to say! Charge!

* * *

Feelings on the Horizon

I walked down from the winners stand and returned to the backstage, where my friends were waiting for me. The large trophy and the bouquet of flowers I was carrying almost covered my upper body, but still weren't large enough to stop the girls from running to me and hug me while screeching congratulations on my winning. A sudden flash called my attention.

"Good work Hinata-chan" standing nearby were Sore-nee-san and Kohaze, she had her camera on her hand.

"Sora-nee-san" I greeted her with a big smile "What are you doing here?" I was happy, yet surprised, about seeing her here.

"Well, you haven't forgotten about Kohaze, have you? His job is to let me know pretty much everything you guys are doing, so I knew about this contest since you started practicing. Besides, it wasn't as if you were keeping it a secret"

"Congratulations, Hinata-hime" said Kohaze in a courteous voice while he did a deep bow.

"Thank you Kohaze" I replied the bird's with a little bow of my own before addressing the young woman once away "But, what are you doing in the backstage?" I said pointing the identification cards that read 'Staff' from the neck of my friends

"Yeah, well, about that..." Sora-nee-san's tone and expression suddenly became stiffy "this is a civilian contest but we are at a ninja village, and as such...the influence of 'the family' allows for certain privileges" she finished as my father came out of the shadows

"Father!"

"Her dad?" asked surprised all the girls

"Good evening Hinata" he greeted almost without seeing me "Good evening to you too, young girls" instantly all the girls adjusted their standing and bowed.

"Good evening Hyuuga-sama"

I was completely petrified. One thing was to confess my love for Naruto-kun in front of my friends, my rival and a lot of strangers; but his sister, and my father? That was another story completely!

"When you get home, come to my office. I will have a word with you there" his voice was serious and the tone imperative.

"Yes father" I said lowering my face. I was in trouble, I knew it.

"Don't be late" he said turning around.

"See you later Hiashi-san" waved good-bye Sora-nee-san

"I have told you to call me Hyu- You know what? Nevermind" replied my father as he left.

We all fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"So, uh, yeah! Those wings were amazing Hinata-chan!" ventured Sora-nee-san breaking the heavy mood. All the girls agreed joining the talk.

"Yes, I was wondering about it, it was a nice touch, but why did you change everything in the last minute? It wasn't supposed to be wings what broke the chains but hearts" said Sakura-chan "you used another dress too"

"I-I appreciated the dress" I recognized nonchalantly "I wasn't exactly looking forward to wear that thing in public" _even less in front of my father! _"I was somewhat ashamed of wearing that awkward outfit"

"Say what?" Ino-chan was clearly surprised "Hinata-chan didn't you like the outfit I put together for you?"

"It's not that I didn't like it" I replied as fast as I could apologetically "it's just that...it's...so bold..." I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks

"Ha, ha, ha" laughed Sakura-chan "it's not usual to see the old Hinata-chan"

I blinked twice "'Old Hinata'? What do you mean?" I questioned her, Ino-chan giggled.

"She means, that just now you were playing with your fingertips, like you're doing again now" she smiled.

I lowered my sight, as my cheeks reached a nearly unbearable heat I noticed how the tips of my index were touching each other, coming and going, how could I be doing it unconsciously?

"A-a-a-a-ah! F-f-for how long have I been doing this?" I asked.

"Just a few seconds n-" began to answer Sakura-chan but I interrupted her.

"No, no, no. I mean, since what age?"

"Pretty much since the academy" replied Ino-chan "that was like your trademark when we were young"

"No way!"

"I'm afraid so, yes" acknowledged Sakura-chan.

"Returning to the topic at hand… about your act" dared to say Midori-sempai "I'm guilty on the dress, but I really had to deliver it to Hinata; however, I didn't change the plan" she explained "In fact I thought it was you, Sakura-chan, who had changed my genjutsu. You are the only one here with a good genjutsu level" all the girls looked at each other searching for possible culprits. All of a sudden their eyes locked on me.

"I?" I questioned back "I didn't do it!" I argued back "I'm not that good with genjutsu! Besides! I was too focused on singing to even do something as complex as that"

"I guess that's true..." Midori-sempai fell into a deep thoughtful stance.

"Let's not worry about it!" cheered on Tenten-chan "all's well what ends well, right?"

"She's right!" seconded Sora-nee-san "let's go party to celebrate!"

"YAY" all the girls cheered.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

I got home a few hours later, the night was now at its peak, the streetlights illuminated the village in a lovely fashion, creating a romantic mood...that I wasn't able to enjoy as much as I'd have wanted since I was missing Naruto-kun.

The moment Sora-nee-san and I crossed the gates of the haven I knew my father was already expecting me at his office. I could see the light coming out from his window.

"Sora-nee-san, I'll go see my father now"

"Ok, Hinata-chan, have a good night" she said kissing my forehead "once again, congratulations on winning. Come Kohaze"

"Good night Hime" said the hawk following the older girl. I waved them good bye as I went my way.

I climbed up the stairs and walked down the hallway, as usual. When I reached the door I heard my father's voice ordering from the inside:

"Come in, Hinata"

I slid the door open and let myself in. My father was looking outside the window towards the gardens. He turned around and placed a picture frame back at his desk, the photograph showed the smiling face of my mother in her young years.

"You are late" he said simply as he sat down at his large chair.

"I'm sorry father, Sora-nee-san took us to celebrate" I hurried to explain.

He didn't answer, he just looked at me in silence. I could feel my nervousness building up.

"Tell me, Hinata, why...did you participated in that contest?" he asked me in silence

"W-w-well I..." my stuttering was clear, and denoted my insecurity.

"I'll ask you something different then" he said almost as if he had already expected me to be late on my answer "how come you participated without talking it over with me before?"

"I'm sorry father!" I said faster this time, not wanting him to change the question again, I didn't want him to think that I didn't want to answer him "it's just that one thing led to the other and I found myself at it almost without noticing"

"So you didn't want to do it?" he asked inquiring.

"At first I did not, but it seems like I'm talented for this, and I actually enjoyed it at the end"

"You did?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Y-yes! I-I-I-I know it's not really what a ninja from a prestigious clan would do and that it's not worthy of the heiress to do so, but truth is, that in the end, my feelings...and about the song..." I had no real idea of what was I saying, I had the concept of what I wanted to say but I just couldn't translate it to words.

"Is that what you are worrying about, Hinata? The clan?" he asked me seriously.

"Y-yes!" I tried to sound calm and serious. My father stood up, and walked around his desk, passing my seat and disappearing from my sight. I stopped hearing his footsteps, which meant he was standing a few feet away behind me.

"Tell me Hinata, you are aware of the fact that your mother was a great shinobi, right?"

"Yes father I am"

"But did you know that your mother also had a _special_ talent?"

"Special?" did he mean my mother had some kind of special jutsu? Maybe this could help me know more about Habataku.

"Yes... do you see all the embroidery adorning this room?" I took a minute to appreciate the different frames that featured multiple pieces of cloth. All of them presented a gorgeous and fancy needlework in varied colors and styles; they were clearly the work of a master artisan.

"Yes father, they are all beautiful"

"Did you know they are all you mother's work?" he said with a light tone.

"They are?" I asked surprised turning around to see him.

"Yes they are" was my father...smiling? "Your mother had a very special talent for knitting and sewing, she was a master tailor"

"My mother was?" I was amazed by the news, my mother definitely was incredible.

"She was a very capable kunoichi, however, she still loved to do these things and she was, as you can see, very talented for it. You have a great talent too Hinata. Tonight's performance was very inspiring, don't be afraid of giving your all, and be proud of it, and be proud to be a Hyuuga, daughter of your mother, daughter of mine" he placed his hands over my shoulders "and I hope you mention it next time, I'll be glad to assist" I couldn't help to smile "Now, go to bed, you had a long and tough day, you must be tired"

"Yes father!" I said cheerfully as I stood up from the chair and placed myself in front of him looking at his face, with a warm smile on my face. There, for the first time in my life, I gave my father a hug "I love you dad" I squeezed him lightly "Good night"

"Good night Hinata" he said as I walked out of the office.

I walked to my room, almost skipping all the way up to my bed. My father didn't dislike the fact that I could sing, he even praised and supported me "So my mother had a talent for tailor work"

"Yes, her pieces were gorgeous" admitted Habataku

"Do you...know how to knit and sew?" I dared to ask her; maybe this was a chance to know a little more about my mother

"Well, yes, a little, everyone said I was very good at it, but I wasn't that good at it in my own opinion, my mother was the real artist, and as far as I know grandmother was the one who taught her, rumors said she was a legendary artisan that made works for lords and kages of all the nations, big, small, close and far away, even from beyond the sea"

I moved into the sheets once I had put on my pajamas. _So, the most amazing of all was my great grandma right? That means it was a family skill? _"Habataku, do you think, maybe, you could teach me?"

"How to knit? Sure, if you want to"

"That would be great" I smiled "It was a good show right? The song...although we never found out who made those wings"

"Oh about that! It was me" she admitted.

"You did? But how?"

"Well, you remember when I replenished your chakra on the fight on Wave Country?"

"I could never forget about it..." and even less as everyone seemed to make me remember it every three days.

"Well, it seems I can also channel a little chakra and perform basic techniques in a similar way to that" she explained.

"I guess the other girls will never know, they don't know a thing about you..."

"And I think it's better for it to stay that way..."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The following morning I woke up early, and for the first time in years I went to the family dojo, and practiced my Jyuuken.

Amazingly not only had I not forgotten the stances, but my shape had also improved!

"As I told you, the Lunar Fist style has several elements from Jyuuken, as such it's logical to assume that even if it's not perfect, your Jyuuken level would increase a little bit by practicing it" explained Habataku.

I trained until the sun appeared clearly in the sky and the sunlight bathed the gardens of the house. Time flew and it was until my father and Hanabi arrived at the dojo that I noticed the time and had to run to catch up to Sora-nee-san's training.

For some reason even after I had practiced for myself quite a while at the dojo I was able to cope and perform decently enough at her training, at which Naruto-kun appeared. It had been a nice surprise.

After training we went and had breakfast all together, and for the first time I suddenly felt like we were all a family. I was able to talk with my father, Sora-nee-san tried all the time to get on my father's nerves without much success and even Hanabi joined the talk from to time. The only detail that somewhat casted a shadow on the morning was that Naruto-kun was still somewhat avoiding eye contact with me.

But it was on a somewhat different way from what it had been up until now...as such I decided to act upon it.

After brushing my teeth to remove any trails of breakfast from my mouth, I looked for Naruto-kun. I prepared myself psychologically for several minutes before going to talk to him.

Finally I found him at the front door; he was putting on his sandals, clearly preparing to go out.

"Naruto-kun?" I called his attention. This was it, I hoped that it would be enough to somewhat heal our shaking relationship.

"Hinata!" he jumped in his place "uh-uh-mm" was he out of words? That was something uncommon at best.

"Do you have a minute? I'd like to talk to you"

"Uh, sure"

I swallowed "Um...About yesterda-"

"Oh! Yeah!" Naruto-kun suddenly recognized "You were amazing! It was a beautiful song!"

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheek as he complimented me, but I quickly pushed down the feeling "thank you but, I actually wanted to talk about something else" I breathed in and tried to relax..._here I come _"I've noticed that...you've been avoiding me lately" his face suddenly shown the signs of shame, like a kid caught doing trickeries "actually since we were at Wave Country"

"Hinata, about tha-"

"There's no need for you to say anything, please, just...listen to what I need to say for a second" I asked him "I assume this is because of something I said" his cheeks turned pink as he turned his face away and scratched his temple with a finger. _Bullseye _"I'm not expecting and answer" his eyes suddenly widened and locked themselves on my face, I could feel my blood rushing up again, it felt like ages since he had seen me with such a fixed gaze "I-I-I only meant to let you know how I feel, merely because I felt like doing so. So, please, please, just treat me like you always did, treat me as usual, I don't mind if my feelings don't reach you, I'm happy with you being my friend and I don't want our friendship to disappear because of it. If it's necessary, forget everything I said about that topic, but please, let's return to being friends. Let's return to how we were, stop ignoring me, and stop avoiding me...it...it hurts when you do it..." I didn't know what else could I say, but at least I had got to express how I felt.

Our eyes kept locked into each other's for what seemed like an eternity...he didn't answer.

"W-well that was all I wanted to say to you. Please think about it, I miss my friend" I turned around planning to go away, but his words pulled me back again.

"Hinata" he had said my name in such a way that almost sounded like a plea not to go, I turned around, like hypnotized "since Anko-sensei gave us the day off I promised the Konohamaru Corps to play ninja with them" he was talking to me after what seemed like years "would you like to come with me?"

"What?" I couldn't believe it, had he just invited me to join?

"Is that a 'no'?" he asked puzzled.

"No! No, no, no! Of course I'll go! I'd love too!" and for the first time since what seemed like so long he showed me his usual toothy grin. I couldn't help it and smiled too.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOo

We walked together on the streets of Konoha for several minutes until we reached a small plaza in the intersection of several streets. We waited for the kids to arrive a few minutes, but Naruto-kun was rampaging around about their lateness since we arrived.

It wasn't long until we noticed that a part of the wall seemed to move. We focused our attention and noticed that it was a large piece of cloth barely of the color of the wall that had little fingers holding it from the uppermost part; three figures could be noticed behind the cloth because of the shape. I found it very cute how they were trying to sneak on us.

"Konohomaru, stop fooling around! Since when has a wall that shape? And the color is wrong too!" yelled Naruto-kun a the kids, who surprised about being discovered, tripped and fell to the ground, revealing their makeshift concealment.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, I see you were able to see through our disguise, as expected of the man I see as my rival!" said Konohomaru as he stood up. Two other kids were with him.

"Who in hell wouldn't see past it?" demanded Naruto-kun.

Suddenly the kids drew small smoke bombs from their clothes and threw them at the ground, big cloud of colored smoke rose from their position... however, they were still coughing when the smoke dissipated.

"The young kunoichi with the sex appeal of an adult! Moegi!" said a little girl of red hair tied into tall tails.

"The one who loves dividing numbers! Udon!" said a kid with glasses and a running nose.

"The one and only genius ninja of the village! Konohamaru!"

"And together we're the Konohamaru Corps!" said the three of them introducing themselves.

All the people in the plaza were already watching us.

"What are you doing in a place like this, fool!" said Naruto-kun approaching them and hitting Konohamaru-kun. At that moment I noticed that they were all wearing green goggles over their forehead.

"What with the goggles?" I asked the little kids.

"We're copying Leader on his younger days!" explained the girl, Moegi

"Leader-nii-chan, you brought your girlfriend with you today!" said Konohamaru-kun as he noticed me

"Ah, well! About that...you see..." started Naruto-kun nervously, it was still clearly a delicate matter.

"I'm noting of the sort" I said crouching to see the kids to the eye "I'm merely his teammate and friend, nice to meet you all, my name is Hinata"

"Hinata-onee-chan is very pretty!" said Moegi.

"My, thank you Moegi-chan"

"Naruto-no-nii-chan, I thought better of you why haven't you made her your girl already!" demanded Konohamaru-kun.

"H-hey you kid, watch your tone" said my teammate with a light hearted scolding.

"Leader, you promised to play ninja with us" reminded him Udon-kun.

"I know, I know, but I guess we should go somewhere less crowded, suggested Naruto-kun noticing how everyone's eyes were _st__ill _fixed on us.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

We played with them for several hours, until it happened. All of a sudden Konohamaru-kun, who was running ahead of us, crashed into someone else.

"Careful!" I tried to warn him, but it was too late, he hit a tall young boy dressed in black clothes and painted as a Kabuki actor. He kind of reminded him of Naruto-kun the day he presented his photograph for the ninja registry. A few steps behind him was a tall girl who seemed to be probably as old as Midori-sempai, she was blond, her hair tied in four short tails and had green sea colored eyes; both of them carried a big item on their backs: he had something like a pole involved in bandages and she had a large folded fan. They were using protectors embodied with another village's mark, which I recognized as Sand's from Wind Country thanks to my classes at the academy. Still, they were walking in a very relaxed manner to be invaders, and the Leaf had a somewhat good relationship with the Sand.

"Hey, that hurt, you brat!" said the older boy as he grabbed Konohamaru by his scarf, rising him above his feet.

"Please, we're sorry, we were just playing and-"I tried to explain to him the situation but the icy gaze he paid to me made me stop on my tracks.

"Hey you bastard, put him down!" demanded Naruto-kun in a menacing tone.

"Let's not cause a ruckus" recommended the foreign girl to the boy that was holding a struggling Konohamaru.

"We can play a little with them while we wait" said the boy in black as Konohamaru tried to kick his chest with no results "besides this kid's pretty energetic"

"I will not be responsible for any of this" said the girl crossing her arms as if bored

"Hey you, don't you dare to ignore me!" yelled Naruto-kun as he charged towards him in an attempt to rescue Konohamaru.

But the sand shinobi in a quick and simple movement for his fingers sent a string of wire to trip Naruto-kun as he run towards him. The wire was nearly invisible, but it was very resistant, clearly high quality.

"What the hell happened?" said a frustrated Naruto-kun as he tried to stand up.

"Well, now then..." the foreign teenager pulled back his fist, preparing to hit Konohamaru, when a stone hit his wrist, forcing him to drop the kid.

"What do you think you're doing in another people's village?" from a nearby tree came the voice of Sasuke-san, he was sitting on a branch of the tree, a stone in his hand "I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but I recommend you go away" he said crushing the stone in his hand to mere powder. The foreign boy's anger showed in his painted face while the face of the girl blushed.

"Nii-chan! I'm disappointed! Why are you not as cool as he is?" asked a sad Konohamaru, Naruto-kun turned to see Sasuke pissed.

"You...I'll make you pay for this" the boy in black removed the item from his back and placed it on the floor, the girl seemed worried.

"H-hey! Are you seriously going to use Crow here?" I wondered what she meant by that, but it was clear that much as the fan on her back, the thing this boy had was a ninja tool meant for combat.

"Kankuro, that will be enough" a voice as creepy as Zabuza's sounded around us "you are a disgrace to the village" I could see how even Sasuke was surprised by the sudden appearance of this new character. Especially because he was just a few feet away, hanging upside down from the same tree as he was. How long had he been there? He arrived as silently as the wind "We are not here to fool around"

"G-Gaara!" said the alluded "they were the ones who started it" he justified himself.

"Silence, why do you think we came all the way to Konoha?" he asked in an intimidating tone "If you do any other stupidity I'll kill you"

The boy who seemed so confident in his abilities when he stopped Naruto-kun with just one hand while having Konohamaru grabbed in the other was now frozen with fear, sweat running down his forehead. He was clearly afraid of this guy, and honestly, so was I.

"I understand, I'm sorry!" he excused himself.

"I didn't do anything" the girl added hurriedly, the newcomer turned around to see Sasuke-san as if he was the representative of all of us.

"Excuse these fools" all of a sudden he became sand and fell to the ground in front of the other people from the Sand Village "Let's go" he ordered. He was clearly the leader despite being smaller and younger than the other two. He had short red hair, bright green eyes that were framed black, as if he hadn't slept in days. As the other two, he was carrying an item on his back: a large gourd. I wondered if it was also a weapon. A large red kanji showed on his forehead: "Love"

All three of them turned around and began to walk away.

"Please, wait" I asked politely walking in front of Naruto-kun and the kids; the foreign ninja stopped and turned around "you are from the Hidden Sand Village, from Wind Country are you not? The Leaf and your village have an alliance, but a treaty stops ninja from entering without permission, as such, as a ninja of the Leaf I politely demand to see some identification papers and to state your business in the village"

"What a surprise to find an educated girl with etiquette" said the older girl smiling, she pulled out a small card with his photograph and the seal from both Wind Country and Fire Country "as you said we're from Hidden Sand, this is a traffic paper, we're here legally in order to take the Chunnin exam" she explained.

"What's a 'Chunnin exam'?" asked a curious Naruto-kun.

"You take the exam to pass from Gennin to Chunnin rank" explained Konohamaru.

"Really? Then I should take the exam too!" said the blond boy excited.

"Thank you very much" I said bowing to the girl "sorry to bother you, and please, keep your behavior in check while in the village" the girl bowed back and they started to walk away again.

Sasuke-san jumped down from the tree and landed in front of me, but paid me no mind "you there, I'm interested in you, what's your name?" The girl turned around, her cheeks pink.

"M-me?" she said with her hopes high, it was clear that Sasuke-san had earned another fan.

"No, the one over there, the one with the gourd" explained the raven haired. The read headed turned around.

"Gaara of the Desert. I'm also interested, your name?"

"It's Uchiha Sasuke"

"Hey hey! What about me? Won't you ask my name?" demanded Naruto-kun.

"I'm not interested in you." said Gaara "Let's go" in a second the ninja from the sand had already jumped away from there.

"Damn you Sasuke! Always putting your nose into other people's business! I was about to kick their asses!" complained a furious Naruto-kun.

But while he and Sasuke-san argued I kept wondering what new development was starting...I could feel a dark presence lurking around; clearly hardships were showing themselves in the horizon.

"So it's that time of the year already?" asked rhetorically Habataku, clearly she could feel it too.

* * *

Editor's notes: I'm sorry, it seems my lack of adequate reading abilities delayed this chapter, can you believe I sent it to the wrong e-mail?

By the way, did anyone else thought Hiashi's parenting abilities, despite the credibility were really heart-warming? I did… but I still think the whole sewing thing is more of a Tohru's spouse-character thing…

Author's note: Well that's our chapter! Now! Before I get all the reviews about Hiashi being OOC just please consider that in the canon he traits Hinata like he does because she didn't shows that great of a performance...however, this time she does considerably better so he thinks differently of her...just take it into account

Now please! Read and Review!


	29. Chunnin Exam

Hello guys!

I'm sorry this chapter is so late! We had some technical difficulties but there are solved now and here's the chapter!

Have nothing to say exact, Thanks to Okami no Hikari for being the Beta for this chapter! As usual!

CHARGE!

OooOoOoOoOo

Chunnin Exam

It all began the following morning, at the beginning of our meeting. Anko-sensei told us there would be no training and instead handed a sheet of paper to each one of us.

"I'm not sure if you've already noticed, but there is a number of foreign ninja inside the village" she said as she handed the papers "There's a reason for this. Our village is hosting the exam to pass from Gennin to Chunnin rank this semester, and I've nominated you all as candidates for it"

"AAAALRIGHT!" cheered Naruto-kun jumping high into the air

"the exam is to be taken as a whole team, so talk among yourselves and decide if you're going to take it or not. Deliver the forms completely filled in at the academy, classroom 301, tomorrow morning if you choose to, don't be late" and with a hand wave and smile she disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

The form basically just asked us some of our personal information: name, age and stuff, it was merely a bureaucratic process, nothing to be worried about.

"So, a test in groups of three huh?" Midori-sempai asked rhetorically "no doubt the exam starts from here; they mean to see if we all trust in our own abilities and those of our teammates"

"Well no problem there, right?" asked Naruto-kun "I'm the future Hokage, my skills have no comparison, and I know you girls kick ass" I could feel my cheeks turning red at his praising

"I'm glad to have earned your trust, Naruto" added Midori-sempai "likewise, I trust you guys hands down, and I'm confident in my capabilities" both of them turned to see me

"Let's do it" I said trying to sound as confident as I was feeling "I know that together we three can pass this test without too much trouble" their faces showed a warm smile

"Let's show the village and the whole world why you don't mess with team 5!" cheered Naruto-kun placing his clenched fist in front of us, as a reaction, both Midori-sempai and I put our hands above his fist, and the three of us tossed them all above our heads. Now, I had no doubts about the unity of our team.

We were all smiling.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The following morning we all arrived early at the academy; however, a lot of people were already there, hanging outside the entrance and all along the hall of the first floor.

We three had a hard time moving through it, as not everyone present was a member of the village. There were ninja from every village I knew of, I started to wonder where did they all hide...we merely found 3 of them by mistake the other day...no wonder the rest were in hiding or something...the level here was pretty high, nearly none of them were our age, the youngest seemed to be at least around Midori-sempai's age.

We climbed up the stairs and found a large crowd standing outside a classroom, seemingly the 301.

"Let us pass!" was the common demand from the other gennin, since two guys were stopping anyone who tried to get past the threshold of the classroom. We squeezed ourselves to the front of the crowd, getting there just to see a boy landing in front of us, covered in bruises. It was Lee-san.

"The exam is pretty hard!" said one of the guys standing in front of the door "even us have failed it two times already"

"Bushy brows!" called him Naruto-kun as he helped him up "are you ok?" Lee-san stood up with difficulty, even with of Naruto-kun helping.

From the crowd appeared Tenten-chan and Neji-nii-san, the first tried to approach the two self proclaimed guards and the later just stood nearby, clearly unconcerned about both the guys in front of him and his teammates.

"Please" said Tenten-chan "we just want to take the exa-" the boy raised his hand above his forehead that showed the symbol of the leaf and prepared to strike down my friend as Midori-sempai appeared between them and stopped the hand.

"A real gentleman should never hit a girl...even less a fellow citizen..." lectured Midori-sempai, projecting once again that aura of hers that made her seem much, much older. The boy gritted his teeth as he tried to free his wrist from my teammate's firm grip.

"Stop this ruckus" a voice of command called their attention, we all turned around. Sasuke-san and his team had arrived, all the people moved out of his way as he walked towards us. Sakura-chan and Oshikuru-kun were walking alongside him, yet slightly behind. "And while you are at it" added the raven haired "dispel this whole genjutsu, it's completely lame, you noticed since the beginning, didn't you, Sakura?"

"That's right Sasuke-kun because this is the second floor" she said.

"So you noticed?" said the boy that had stood still until now, suddenly the number on the room changed to 201.

"Damn you pretty boy..." cursed his partner and charged Sasuke-san, who prepared to retaliate, but in just a moment, Lee got between them both and stopped their attacks.

"We're all ninja of the leaf, there's no need to fight among us..." I could see how both of them were surprised by the sudden action of the green-clad boy.

As the crowd began to disperse Neji-nii-san approached Lee-san and Tenten-chan

"I thought it was you who had said that we should have a low profile, and don't attract unnecessary attention to ourselves" he said

"You know, Neji" started Tenten-chan "he's acting like this because..." but she couldn't finish, because Lee-san had already stood up and was standing in front of Sakura-chan

"Hello! My name is Rock Lee! Sakura-chan please go out with me!" Lee-san introduced himself bowing stiffly, but his approach wasn't received as he had expected.

"Ugh! No way!" she said almost running away from him "what's with that eyebrows? So thick! Ugh!" sadly Lee-san was rejected in front of us by my friend, and although he wasn't exactly my friend he was a close friend of Naruto-kun, and I felt bad about him.

"Oshikuru, Sasuke-kun, let's go" said Sakura-chan "and hey, Hinata-chan, we're not going easy on you or anything, ne? Even if we're friends, we'll pull no punches got it?" she said to me turning around and smiling with confidence. I couldn't help but to answer her smile.

"Same with us" was my answer as I also looked at Tenten-chan who nodded in acceptance.

Their team left the area as the whole crowd began to disperse, but I could see how Lee-san tailing team 7.

"Hinata, you see that? Bushybrows is going after them! Come let's see what's happening!" said Naruto-kun going after the spandex wearing boy. Of course, Midori-sempai and I followed him closely.

We finally arrived at a large room, a long staircase led to a lower floor, which we could observe from the edge of the balcony. Further beyond the gardens brought a fresh smell of grass and flowers.

Sasuke-san, Sakura-chan, and Oshikuru-kun were standing in front of Lee-san who was posing in his fighting stance.

"What do you say? Will you fight me, Uchiha Sasuke-kun?" asked the older boy, the raven haired smirked.

"You're confident if you dare to challenge me to a duel, even knowing the Uchiha name"

Oshikuru-kun took a step forward.

"Leave this one to me Sasuke, It'll give me a chance to prove the results of my training" he asked letting loose the metal wire that covered his arms.

"It is not you who I wish to fight" replied seriously Lee-san.

"If you can't defeat me, there's no way you can touch Sasuke" said nonchalantly Oshikuru-kun. It was clear that Sasuke-kun had taken the position of leader of his team quite easily.

"Fine, I'll defeat you quickly" replied Lee-san.

"This is a good opportunity to see the improvements of both, Oshikuru and Sasuke" said Naruto-kun who now had his undivided attention on the lower floor.

Oshikuru-kun charged at Lee-san. For both of them, combat was their best asset; however, I wondered how would the extra year of experience that Lee-san had affect the battle. I was able to defeat Oshikuru-kun even if barely, and Naruto-kun was stronger than me, but at the same time Lee-san was stronger than him. Besides, my fight with Oshikuru-kun had been at the academy and we all had grown a lot since then, there was no way to assure that Lee-san's battle would be easy.

Oshikuru-kun threw a punch at Lee-san but it was easily deflected, and then the fight really started. The metal wire that was around Oshikuru-kun springed and trapped Lee-san's arm who noticing this development threw his arm around, sending Oshikuru-kun flying through the wire that tied them together. The scarred boy wouldn't let go and suddenly the wire in his other arm grabbed one of Lee-san's legs.

"At this rate Bushy-Brows movements will be restrained" assured Naruto-kun without moving his eyes from the fight.

As his leg got trapped Lee-san moved it harshly to send a wave along the wires that smashed Oshikuru-kun against the floor with great force

"Oshikuru!" called Sakura-chan.

"It's over" announced Lee-san as he tried to remove the wires from his limbs, but they wouldn't budge.

"N-not yet" said Oshikuru-kun standing up with difficulty "One Thousand Spears of Iron!" all the remaining wire around his body launched forward against Lee-san, threatening to pierce him all around. The older fighter jumped backwards into the air trying to run away from the attack, but the wire kept moving forward and the grip on his limbs stopped him from going far enough to escape the attack. He was forced to counterattack: twisting in the air he yelled.

"Leaf's Violent Wind!" the flying kicks he performed were so powerful that stopped the incoming metal lances and also lifted Oshikuru-kun from the floor, sending him flying against a pillar. The younger boy crashed harshly, releasing a gasp and losing consciousness; the wire lost its grip.

"Will you fight me now, Sasuke-kun?"

He did.

Surprisingly the difference in power proved to be as big as it was with Oshikuru-kun, the gap in power between the two younger boys wasn't enough to make a real difference against Lee-san.

Sasuke-san wasn't even able to defend and his opponent managed to react to anything he tried in order to take on the offensive. When a kick managed to send Sasuke-san into the air and Lee used his Shadow Dance technique to follow after him airborne it was clear that the battle was over... however a paper windmill stopped Lee-san's attack and forced him back to the floor.

A shiver ran through Midori-sempai's back "He's coming...let's go before it's too late, the fight is over anyway"

We kept on moving to the third floor, thinking about what we had just seen.

"That Sasuke couldn't beat Bushy-Brows...that means that he is within my reach" said with confidence Naruto-kun, he couldn't help but to smirk "I swear that before this is over I'll settle my score with Sasuke and prove that I'm the strongest Gennin! Then no one will be able to ignore me and will acknowledge my abilities!" he clenched his fist as he looked at us in the eye, both Midori-sempai and I smiled at him.

"You'll have to beat not only Sasuke-tan" explained Midori-sempai in a light tone of voice "also Lee, Neji, and many foreign ninja to do that, not to mention that we, Hinata and I, will be taking part on the exam too!"

"I'll fight against anyone and defeat them one by one, and at the same time protect you two from any harm!"

"It's amazing how he can make you fall in love with him all over again with just a few words, isn't it?" asked Habataku. I nodded with enthusiasm.

After a short walk we arrived at a large double door with the number 301. You could feel a big menacing aura coming from inside it, or rather a mixture of auras. Midori-sempai and Naruto-kun took point while I stood a little bit behind them when they opened the doors.

We came into a large room, there were already a lot of ninja inside, nearly all of them foreign, or at least it felt like it, since every gaze that reached us was full of killing intent, blood lust, and hatred. Clearly it was best not to provoke this bunch.

"Yo! Hinata!" called a familiar voice, from among the crowd came out Kiba-kun and his little dog Akamaru. Kiba flashed a big smile as he approched, Naruto-kun quickly walked forward, cutting his approach.

"Hey Dog Mouth!" greeted Naruto-kun.

"H-hey, Naruto" quickly Kiba-kun's smile faded to a disappointed gesture. Midori-sempai giggled as she whispered into my ear.

"I'm surprised at how popular you are" her tone was playful "and how quickly you turn enemies into friends" the image of Sakura-chan came to my head "and allies into enemies" as if triggered by her words Shino-kun and Azumi came out of the crowd, following their teammate. Azumi and I exchanged a gelid glance before Naruto-kun greeted them too.

"Hey Azumi!" he said waving vigorously "Shino too"

"'Hello Naruto!" waved back cheeky Azumi, Shino merely nodded in response.

"You guys are damn noisy!" said a bored voice, we all turned around to see Ino-chan and Chouji-kun coming out of the crowd leaded by Shikamaru-kun.

"Hello Ino-chan" I said waving to my friend.

"Hinata-chan!" she said running to me and as she embraced me in a hug, she asked into my ear "Sooooo? I can see you all friendly with Naruto again...or was it since that day? You are lovey-dovey yet?" her voice thirsted for gossip.

"Etto..." I could almost see me sweat cold "...no" I said letting my head hung down

"Say what?" she released one of her screeches on my ear; a buzzing sound remained even after she had quieted.

"Ino, keep quiet" scolded her Shikamaru-kun

At that moment the doors opened again and Neji-ni-san, Tenten-chan, and Lee-san came into the room. All the girls, Ino-chan, Tenten-chan, Midori-sempai, and I, exchanged a welcoming glance before they retired on their own.

We kept on chatting a few minutes, talking about the missions each team had completed, and our expectations of this exam; suddenly the doors opened once again.

The cheeks of several girls turned pink and Ino-chan moved forward as Sasuke-san's figure appeared holding both doors. After him came Sakura-chan and Oshikuru-kun. The ruckus started right away: Sakura-chan and Ino-chan began a fight over Sasuke-san, Naruto-kun challenged Sasuke-san to try and find out who was better even when his rival didn't paid much attention to his words, Oshikuru-kun demanded a rematch from Lee-san the moment he went to say hello to Naruto-kun. In one word, it was noisy.

"Jeez, you guys are rookies straight from the academy right?" an older boy came out of the crowd, the headband of Konoha was clear on his forehead, he was dressed in simple dark blue clothes, his hair was silver and a pair of eyeglasses rested on his nose "damn noisy, screaming like little girls" Ino-chan and Sakura-chan sent kunais with their eyes to him. (Editor's note: I would've sent real ones… hate this guy's guts)

"Who do you think you are?" asked him Ino-chan annoyed.

"My name is Kab-" he was midway into his introduction when Midori-chan stood up in front of him.

"Yakushi Kabuto" she said, a tone of hatred in her voice "I know you well, go away, these gennin are under my protection" she said.

"Hey, hey, there's no need to get so aggressive" he tried to defend himself.

"I said go away" her tone of voice resounded with that intonation that made her sound older "I won't say it again" the shine in her eyes gave them a dangerous edge "I won't let you, nor _anyone_ else lay a hand on them, _none_ of them, you hear me? Now, walk away before I kill you" I could feel that she was not bluffing, she meant it.

"Ok" he said seriously "I'll walk away now"

At that moment three new figures came out rushing from the mass of ninjas, along with an overwhelming feeling of blood lust. Not all of us managed to react in time. Only Shikamaru-kun, Sasuke-san, Ino-chan, Azumi-chan, Midori-sempai, Shino-kun, Kabuto and myself managed to move as they came out.

The one in front of the group seemed like a mummy and was wearing a weird arm guard of sorts; his forehead had the symbol of a musical note.

He charged at Kabuto and Midori-sempai and threw a punch at them, but both of them managed to dodge the attack...or so we thought

The eyeglasses of Kabuto got smashed and a second later he threw up. Midori-sempai had a better reaction, but still lost her footing and slid back, landing on her butt. It was the first time she had received the effects of an attack, at least in front of us.

"Make sure to remember this, tree huggers, the ninja of the 'Sound' will definitely become Chunnin" said the ninja that looked like a mummy, his voice was dry and terrifying, he was full of self confidence.

"STOP IT AT ONCE, YOU MAGGOTS!" a deep, mature voice came from the end of the room, a group of frightening adults had arrived, and clearly they were the proctors. I tried to look around and see if any of them had some kind of normal friendly face, my efforts were in vain.

"This doesn't looks well" I cursed. The Chunnin exam was about to begin.

OooOoOoOoOo

That's all for now! What do you think? You liked it? Tell me in a review! You didn't? Complain via Review! =D I'll be waiting to know from you!

I'm already working on the next chapter so I hope to update again shortly!

Bye bye!


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